💧 Pile of Poo Is the Anti-Like

Oh, yeah, like this site was going to miss a history of the poop emoji? Come on!

Fast Company’s look at the origins of emoji in America is a great read. It’s particularly amusing to realize that despite Google’s role in bringing emoji to the US, their own browser Chrome still doesn’t properly display them on Mac OS X or Windows.

Perhaps the most interesting idea, however, is how the pile of poo can solve a problem in modern society. If you’re at all familiar with Facebook, you know about its culture of Likes. However, one has only the option to “Like” a post, or do nothing. There is no “Dislike” option, which can be problematic in the case of bad news. When a friend loses a job, for instance, you may wish to succinctly express sympathy and solidarity. A “Like” is clearly all wrong for this. But now, there is a solution:

You can do all kinds of funny things with [pile of poo] and use it with skill, but I guess the most common use is probably “that’s unfortunate, and I would like to punctuate my comment with a reiteration that I am displeased at what has just been expressed.” It’s the anti-like.

Yes, the good old pile of poo emoji (💩) is the perfect response, the perfect way to say “Dislike!” with just a single character. So let it be known, the pile of poo emoji is the anti-like. As with Autocorrupt before it, I urge you to pass it on.