*Insert Name Here* Dislikes This

Sometime yesterday I opened up iGoogle and visited Google Reader. I noticed that you can now "Like" articles. As a regular user of Facebook, I like this. :) (Groan.) It's fun to see how many people are interested in the same things that you are. And when you can "follow" these people and see what else they're reading, you can get turned on to some new and interesting things. Granted, it's also possible to end up clicking on a whole lot of crap, but it's easy enough to filter stuff out.

Well, I want to DISLIKE things. And it's not because I'm a contrary bitch. Well, that's part of it, but I think it could be a good thing...

In the context of Facebook: When a friend has a bad day or if something really crappy happens to them, you can either "Like" their status or comment on it. I don't like it when my friends get hurt, but I may not want to make a comment, either. Being able to "Dislike" their status would be a nice way to acknowledge their post in a more subtle way. Sort of like a digital hug or smile sent their way. Certainly it can be argued that this would allow people to be absolute jerks on your wall. If your friends are really your friends, I doubt this would happen. And if it did, well, you'd know who your real friends were, wouldn't you? Friends can already say whatever they want on your wall (assuming you have it set that way), so letting them "Dislike" things wouldn't change things much. And you can delete stuff you don't like, anyway.

In the context of Google Reader RSS feeds: A lot of news is BAD. I don't want to "Like" something because I find it interesting or important if it's about some disaster or a murder or something. However, readers may want to acknowledge something important like a shooting and its effects on a community or an industry without saying they "Like" it. Again, this would give people the ability to show any biases or bigotry, but the ability to comment on most news sites these days allows that to an even greater extent, so what's the difference? I also think it would be useful to be able to "Dislike" something if you think it's something that isn't worth the broadband being used to host it. It would give people more insight about what their website's readers like to read about and what they don't. They can utilize this information as much or as little as they want. And for users, it would allow them again to be able to follow someone with similar dislikes, thus possibly being turned on to something new and interesting.

It's okay to dislike things. It's part of human nature. They say it takes all kinds, right? ;-)