Facebook Quirk

In December last year, Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is considering ways users can express their feelings beyond the "like" button. However he quickly dismissed any idea the social network will ever add the long-requested "dislike" button. There are times when you may want the simplicity of a one-click response and a "like" doesn't feel appropriate, but Zuckerberg thinks a "dislike" is too much of a negative sentiment.

The problem with the status quo is that sometimes you can't add a negative comment without clicking on the "like" button first. If Adolf Hitler were to have a Facebook page today, he would easily be flooded with tons of brickbats, all 6 million of which may have to "like" him first. Which is why the number of "likes" is never an accurate measure of popularity.

A netizen came across another interesting feature of Facebook not commonly known. Apparently his very public contribution of a sentiment from the heart vanished mysteriously, only to reappear visible only to him and his Facebook friends. No, his Facebook account was not hacked by some overzealous administrator, but most likely was thwarted by exploiting some privacy setting.

The question remains as to why someone would do that. Especially when this Saturday is supposed to be occasion for a mini version of China's "Hundred Flowers Campaign" (simplified Chinese: 百花运动),  a period in 1956 in the People's Republic of China when the Communist Party of China (CPC) encouraged its citizens to openly express their opinions. The  true nature of the exercise has always been questioned by historians, especially when the "Anti-Rightist Movement" that shortly followed resulted in the persecution of intellectuals, officials, students, artists and dissidents. All of whom would have clicked on the "like" button, if Mao Zedong had a Facebook account.