The real meaning of "Like"
Ivan | Sun, 2011-01-09 12:39
Some dismiss the Facebook Like buttons as feedback for lazy people. They argue commenting should be sufficient and more human to express the liking of a status message.
As you probably guessed by now, I respectfully disagree. Pressing the "Like" button is more than what it looks like on the surface. Allow me to explain why I think so.
One of the most important things in human relationships is shared values. If two people from totally different cultures meet initially they are wary of each other. They don't know what to expect from each other, they don't know what each others intentions and objectives are. But as soon as they find a common interest, a common value they will start forming a relationship, later an alliance, even friendship. Occasionally when values overlap significantly and objectives can be aligned suddenly a magical thing love happens too.
When you virtually "Like" someone's picture of his kitten or his status message about a book he read you are saying a lot about yourself. It says you appreciate this person sharing his life, you care for animals, you have maternal (paternal) feelings for small creatures, you appreciate knowledge and the list goes on. All this information is expressed with two "Like" clicks and its transmitted not only to your friend but to all who see the post and your reaction, which can be hundreds of people.
Over time your Likes will generate a large amount of information about you and your personal values and this is immensely important for your friends. They can without thinking deduct what areas of life they can rely on you. In the oversimplified Venn Diagram below all three people can easily be friends because they have many shared values that are expressed through brands, people, music, etc. Jane and Jack can even become romantically involved because many core values are matching such as politics (philosophy), love for aesthetics, love for technology, etc. Jack and John can be buddies based on their expressed likes for shared things like Adobe and ETs.
Finding shared values is an extremely strong and positive feeling. It assures the person of his own beliefs being right and suggests that he can rely on you when fighting for his values in the world. Simple Likes can eventually lead to comments, private emails and even personal meetings.
The more shared values people find in each other, the more likely they will overlook their unavoidable differences. And that creates harmony, cooperation and prosperity in a society.
I know it feels like I'm taking this too far. How can a small Liking make such a global change? But think about it — Facebook serves about a billion Likes a day. A billion of anything even insignificant is a lot. So, next time you Like something on Facebook, remember: You're sharing your values and you're making the world a slightly better place.
Commenting on this Blog entry is closed.
Not sure if you're always making the world a slightly better place by pressing Like - always is a big word ;-) some messages on Facebook are negative as well ;-)
Also sometimes couples split up and the guy who got dumped is having this message "John is now single", it's not nice when heaps of people press like on that ;p
But.... lovely read Ivan! I'm reading the word 'always' a bit too closely I think and agree with the rest of the article! And indeed, Facebook is so massive, even a minor change has heaps of effects.
Reminds me of the guy who invented internet or something, with the http://www., he admitted the second slash of http:// is obsolete and could have been left out. He was really sorry cause think about how much seconds it costed the whole world to type that extra slash. Maybe a split second per person (though modern browsers don't need the http://www. prefix), but with 1.67 billion internet users, that's massive! Maybe some people even suffered wrist pain from it. Small things can go big.
(I searched it - here is the article: http://blogs.sitepoint.com/2009/10/14/sir-tim-berners-lee-http-slashes/)
Anyway, I'm drifting from the subject ;p
The Like button is a simple and fast way to say you... Like something ;-) Sometimes it can say even more then a comment too, cause it's so simple. And also, I think this is important too, since Facebook is made in several languages, I could say "Leuk" of "supertof" in Dutch but I doubt many non-Dutch people would understand it. Like though, is translated in other languages too :)
http://jackmancer.com/
http://twitter.com/jackmancer
send it to Mark Suckerberg :) oops Zuckerberg, he sure would like to explain the Like button this way
www.pleasebemyangelinvestor.com/my-work.html
I agree with Jack, if you have negative infos and you "like" that this is shared you probably wouldn't press the "Like"-button - it just makes the wrong im-press-ion. : /
Choosing to "like" a negative thing in a social setting is all part of standard human interaction. There are some people who really could care less about being "PC", some who truly want to be downright rude, and others who keep their "likes" to themselves because they know other eyes may be watching and that it may be hurtful.
I went through this when I divorced my ex. He had one ex girlfriend who hated me from the minute I started dating him way back when and she took the opportunity when we split to be a colossal bitch to me on his Facebook page. It's called being passive-aggressive - she wouldn't dare send me a message personally - decided to spread her venom on his page instead. I simply blocked her because I got tired of seeing her remarks - I chose not to engage because I knew that's precisely what she wanted. Let her look like an ass, I didn't need to join her. I eventually decided after that to un-friend the ex because I simply didn't want to see any more of his ex girlfriends cropping up to say more things that would be hurtful to me.
The ex wasn't so happy I un-friended him... but then, who needs to stay "friends" with their ex husband on Facebook, anyhow?
I do enjoy the "like" button, though. It's just a virtual "woohoo!" I'd disagree with anyone who says simply hitting the "like" button is my being lazy because I'm not explaining WHY I like something. If I don't want to make it anyone's business why I like something, then that's my choice. :)
yes
http://stevefakeballmer.wordpress.com/
I am not Steve Ballmer pretending not to be me!
When I click... I like it, and I appreciate it.