Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerburg, finally addressed the public’s desire for a dislike button on the well-known social network.

Zuckerburg revealed that a button that would allow users to express another feeling besides like was underway but did not explicitly mention what it would say.

After the announcement, the public went wild and took Zuckerburg’s words out of context and immediately assumed that a dislike button was in the process of being made. They felt his ambiguity gave them a license to draw conclusions. However, don’t seem to be so clear when one examines what Zuckerburg really said.

He simply mentioned at an event that “liking” something was not always appropriate, especially if someone were to post a sad article or terrible news.

It seems that Facebook’s intention is not to provide users with a long awaited dislike button, but instead, a button to express sympathy.

Manipulating the media was smart on Facebook’s side in the aspect that they gained the attention of users worldwide and received coverage through newspapers and several online articles.

This case of false advertisement is beneficial for Facebook’s side. This news should raise the amount of users on Facebook as people will be eager to see the new “dislike” button and try it for themselves.

With several other social media networks like Twitter and Tumblr rising in popularity, Facebook has to step up their game in order to beat their competition.

They have to stay relevant in the sea of competitors or else their outcome may be nonexistant. Without any new tweaks or updates, users will start to get bored and will desert the site.

Facebook does not want to fall off the grid and the fact that they are willing to beat around the bush about this new button reveals their desperation.

If they don’t keep up to date with the new trends, Facebook will die out and turn into an abandoned site like Myspace or Foursquare.

Facebook also has to compete with app-based social medias such as Snapchat, Instagram and Vine. Especially in light of Snapchat’s new filter update and Instagram’s new picture sizes, Facebook is in a sense falling behing ind in addressing the public’s wants.

Although Zuckerburg never specifically said there would be a dislike button, the public was able to pick up the news and create a buzz around it.

Despite their desperation to catch up in the market, Facebook is far from obsolete. Its user base is ever growing, and since its inception has slowly evolved from a younger group to an older group. Now the youngest social media users typically opt for applications such as Instagram or Twitter.

The older user base is a more reliable one because they’re more likely to use Facebook for a longer period of time. They tend not to jump from app to app like the younger people, who will use whatever is in style.