Understanding the 'Like' Button

Understanding the ‘Like’ Button

Facebook Developers Site

At the f8 (Facebook developers) conference last Wednesday, Facebook made several startling announcements that promised to change the way we use and interact with the Internet in groundbreaking ways. Although Facebook has launched as many as eight new social plugins, the most significant of these is arguably the ability for developers to integrate a ‘Like’ button into any given site by copying and pasting a simple code into their site’s HTML. So what exactly are the ramifications of these new features? How will they impact the way that marketers follow, track and ultimately communicate with consumers?

According to Facebook, the ‘Like’ button will “put people at the center of the web”. Previously, the ‘Like’ button allowed users to ‘Like’ their friends comments, status updates, photos, links exclusively within Facebook. Facebook’s statistics state that “the average user clicks ‘Like’ on nine pieces of content each month.” Since the launch of the new social plugins, you’ll begin to notice ‘Like’ buttons appearing all over the web, and on all kinds of pages. What this means is that as long as a user is logged into Facebook and browsing a site, they can hit the ‘Like’ button, and instantly connect that information to the Info page on their profile. Additionally these preferences will appear in users’ (and consequently in their friends’) News Feed and search results. Users also have the ability to see which of their friends ‘Like’ that page, spreading and pushing the ‘Facebook experience’ far beyond our favourite blue and white companion. With the ‘Like’ button, social networking is no longer limited to the social network, but can happen all over the Internet, on any given website. Once a user returns to Facebook, it may suggest new communities, groups, or other ‘Like’ pages they might find of interest, collecting the data that they’ve amassed whilst browsing and integrating it into their personal profile.

There is no doubt the ‘Like’ button will be readily adopted by developers and websites. According to TechCrunch, over 50,000 sites have already integrated the ‘Like’ button and other social plugins. What’s more, within 24 hours of its existence, the little HTML button had over one billion page impressions.

As a marketer or advertiser, these developments will have an immeasurable impact on attitude-based advertising as they will enable brands and businesses to measure exactly what parts of their content are relevant to consumers. They’ll be able to get a crystal clear view on the demographics, locations and profile of their users and, as Indy Saha (Head of Strategy at TBWA London) explains “Wherever consumers go on the web, they will carry their preferences, behaviours and friends with them.”

So… ‘Like’ or ‘Unlike’ – which is it going to be?

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Read positive reviews of the ‘Like’ button at Scobleizer, CNN and Softpedia.

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