It's the moment you've been waiting for... No, George Clooney is not single again. Neither is Ryan Gosling for that matter. Facebook has finally heeded your prayers with the creation of a new button.
But hold your horses, Mark Zuckerberg. Before you get ahead of yourself, it's not so simple as creating a yin to the "like" yang.
Almost since the dawn of Facebook, there has been a need to express empathy or sympathy on certain status postings. When someone's pet dies or they spill their latte all over their cream slacks - situations in which "liking" the status just doesn't send the right message or feel at all appropriate, let alone supportive.
No, we don't "like" when bad things happen to our friends. Yet Facebook has long rallied against the idea of a "dislike" button since the CEO was concerned that it would be used to up or down vote people’s posts.
So instead, we are getting an empathy button. Not only will you be able to better express your emotional self on social media, but - and here's the crucial bit - Facebook will glean ever more data about what makes you tick so it can brief its advertisers accordingly.
Think in terms of charities and gut-wrenching headlines. That extra intel is precious for feeding the social media site's algorithm.
It seems even what goes on inside your heart is no longer private. Can you empathize with that?
RELATED: Facebook Emojis Take Body Shaming to a Whole New Level
Printer-friendly version