Those hoping for further enhanced management to their Facebook profile may be thrilled over a new mute function. The new feature allows users to shut down people, groups, and pages for 30 days. Humorously, Facebook has not referred to the feature as a temporary block. Instead, the feature has been dubbed a “snooze button.” The psychological benefit of calling it a snooze feature shouldn’t be overlooked. No one likes to be blocked as this connotates something negative. A snooze feature comes off as a little less harsh. A user can be forgiven for requesting a temporary break on his or her news feed.
And a news feed definitely can become cluttered quickly. Those with many friends and memberships in several groups may find it difficult to stay on top of everything in the news feed equally. An active group that posts a lot of images can draw attention away from other groups and various friends.
A handful of groups, pages, and people could comprise a massive amount of a user’s Facebook feed. Other important content may end up buried or not seen for weeks at a time. This can prove detrimental to using the feed as a source of comprehensive news and entertainment. Leaving a group or unfriending people, however, may not be the preferred way to address the situation. With the snooze button, a new option exists.
The inclusion of a snooze features allows users to avoid controversies or deal with arguments among friends or fellow group members. In a way, the snooze button allows a Facebook user to become an editor of sorts. If a feed contains objectional material, the user/editor can temporarily remove the content from the feed. All of this may be done quietly and without the drama associated with exiting a group or dismissing Facebook friends. Upon looking at things from this perspective, it would be safe to predict the snooze button shall become a popular feature.
