by 18a Editorial
First published on TalkingWeb.co.uk
Update: 25th Feb 2013 – maybe this was just a bug with Facebook because today it lets me make “like” buttons fine!
Last week I went to add a Facebook Like button to a client’s site… but I only had the option of adding a Share button.
On the Facebook’s Social Plugins page, I can create my button code in the same way as before, but I don’t seem to be able to let it say “Like” anymore. It was only back in December 2012 that I sent this image to a client, asking which style they wanted their button to be:
The form which I fill in on Facebook to create the button still asks me to choose which verb I wish to use – “like” or “recommend” – but selecting “like” just updates the button to say “share”. And buttons I’ve created previously to say “like” now all say “share”. The button itself is still called the “Like Button”.
However, when you click a new “share” button, it still says on your profile page that you “like” the object you shared.
So maybe that just hasn’t been updated yet?
A change of tactics?
Is my memory playing tricks on me – or is this an inversion of something that’s gone before? Didn’t it used to be that you became a fan of a page, or you shared a web page, and then one day Facebook changed everything to “like”? And there was outrage because suddenly something you’d in passing remarked on / wanted to share, was now tied to you as something you “liked”? I’m quite sure that a couple of years ago, Facebook’s sudden additional use of the word “like” caused some headlines.
And yet, now, it’s changed back to share! So what went wrong with like? Is it because of the Facebook Like button migration I discussed last week? Does “liking” something have implications that you’re becoming a fan in someway, but now they’ve removed the ability for businesses to keep in touch with people who like their website they’ve reverted back to “share”? I suppose that would make sense – although the migration happened in early November and you could definately still pick up a Like button in December.
“Like”, whilst obviously a word in it’s own right(!), has developed such close connections with Facebook over the last couple of years that it’s almost weakening the language which Facebook has built up amongst it’s members to take a step back from it again. I’m going to see if I can Facebook’s statement on the move and if I can will report back!