Hate With Friends allows you to hate people on Facebook; you like?
There is no hate on Facebook, only like. But a new website remedies that. Now you can hate family, co-workers and so-called pals.
Signing on to Hate With Friends through Facebook is jarring. All your Facebook friends are lined up with “Hate her” or “Hate him” labels in red. It’s so anti-Facebook. And all you need to do is reach out ... and ... click. (Beware. The temptation may pull at you, even if you have a genuine fondness for these people.)
If you hate someone, he or she won’t know it until that person hates you back. (It’s kind of like the break-up version of the dating app Tinder.)
Why the hate?
“I’m hoping people treat it as a joke and get themselves to look at Facebook in a new, funny way,” said creator Chris Baker, 30.
Over time, social networking can become less lighthearted fun and more of a chore. As Baker told the Los Angeles Times by email, social networks have become “awful parties that you can’t escape.”
“We’re locked into social network obligations with people we don’t like,” he said. (He made an exception of Snapchat, the pioneer of the disappearing message: “That’s one that’s actually being used between people who like each other.”)
“It’s weird to see your list of ‘friends’ laid out on a page with a big red ‘Hate’ button,” said Baker, who created the site with the help of Mike Lacher and Tiger Wang, both 28.
“It makes you stop and think. We’re not thinking this is going to be used that often, but we think people will see Facebook in a new light. Maybe.”
But what about those impressionable teenagers? Will they be “hating” each other into a pit of poor self-esteem?
Baker quipped: “I thought teenagers weren’t on Facebook?”
By the way, Baker is also behind the former Unbaby.me, now called Rather, which allows you to replace things you’d rather not see in your social feeds with things you would rather see -- such as swapping babies out for cats.
Like me or hate me, but follow me on Twitter: @AmyTheHub
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