Facebook Changes “Like” Button To “Share” Without Notice & What It Means To You
On Sunday, Facebook changed its “Like” button on sites across the net to essentially give it the same functionality as its “Share” button. The new Like button no longer opens a new window or offers any way to edit what their posting.
What does this mean for your site?
Before the change, “likes” appeared in a stream or on a wall as an action grouped with other actions and containing no detail other than a small notice that the user had "liked" something. "Shares" were more prominently displayed and contained more detail. Now the entire post (or whatever is being "liked") is shared on Facebook without warning.
The move gives "Likes" and "Shares equal value, as Facebook once again rewrites the best practices for social marketing.
Is the Share button dead?
According to Facebook Spokeswoman Malorie Lucich, the Share button will receive no future development, but the company will continue to support the Share button. Like is now the “recommended solution moving forward.”
Techi called the move a "classic bait and switch" by the social network. "Website owners will rejoice. Unsuspecting users will likely get annoyed," speculated Sosable.
What do you think of Facebook's Like button changes?
I think it’s a great change!! Although I am biased being a website guy for artists 😉
This will surely backfire. Doing this will make people think twice about liking something so that they don’t spam their friends news feeds.
I most certainly will not be ‘likin’g anywhere near as much now. This will not make me one of my contacts most ‘liked’ people!
It sucks!!!!!!!!!!
Definetly sucks 🙁 the “like” was so much more convenient.
To like something is a personal action, to share it is a social action. Not everything we ‘like’ is (for whatever reason) suitable or appropriate for general consumption. This seems like an oppressive action which takes away our right to choose what we share with our social network of family and friends!!!!!
I concur with @Russ
Yup!
I agree with Jude so much that I was looking for the button to “like” his post
So what? Facebook knows nobody’s ever going to leave and they’ve made it clear from Day One that they don’t care about the opinions of their users. It is a beautifully pure operation like that. We have decades of headlines like this ahead of us, settle in and enjoy the ride into Hive Mind.
Exactly right, Jude. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Just because I like something doesn’t mean others connected to my network will like it–and I don’t want to force that upon them.
Haha, nice one. I did the same thing.
Facebook’s management continues to make mistakes common to fast rising companies. In this case, the corporate hubris is thinking that Facebook is immortal. Silly children. If it continues in this fashion it will follow MySpace into the dust bin of irrelevance and something better, yet invented, will take its place.
it is already rapidly heading into the dustbin.
over the last few weeks there has been this issue with ‘Likes’ and it has started emailing me whenever someone posts on one of my pages, and sometimes when people post on a page on which I am an admin. Despite many attempts, I can’t turn that email function off.
As a musician I have plenty of music friends, and am now constantly bombarded with messages regarding the events to which I have been invited – and facebook have removed the ‘ignore all’ button so I can no longer avoid it. Now I even get ‘updates’ when I am invited to an event (several per day). It appears they are slowly but surely making it more like myspace circa 2006. Bad news.
It’s become like Hotel California … you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
I find this “like” feature annoying. It has definitely caused me to stop “liking” things, because I don’t want to annoy friends. Seems like it’s following the path of “Marketing Theory” that has caused people I know to stop watching television entirely.
Does the RC church run this?
I have to say it might put me hitting the Like button more often. But with my work hat on here’s some interesting docs on how to take advantage of the new Facebook Like button with SoundCloud embeds http://bit.ly/idMh4V
So what? Facebook is a social platform, it doesn’t define the boundaries of your existence. If you don’t like something enough to share it socially, don’t do it. Continue to like it privately.
Changing this feature will undoubtedly result in more money for them and even more clicks. A younger generation will not give this a thought and thus keep on clicking ‘Like’.
Striking and instructive content decorate this site, there is always something good to me. Thanks
You dont have any “facebook” rights, you are using someone elses privately developed system. YOu have rights over things you OWN. Dont you know that?
It’s like deleting all in-between greys between black and white. Share or die liking it “in privacy” :)))
No more “liking” anything!!!
Ditto! And how can I trust that my email address won’t be used in some other way that displeases me? When will they let me know THAT?
agree on this one, likers will think twice in clicking the like button because the share box will pop up unlike the previous one click and it will automatically posted on liker’s wall