Facebook to add 'Like' button instead of 'Become a Fan'
The social networking giant Facebook has announced a small word change, with potentially some far reaching implications. Instead of clicking the ‘become a fan’ button, users will now simply have to ‘Like them’.
According to an email recently obtained, Facebook is alerting advertisers to the impending change by explaining that “Like” links offer “a simple, consistent way for people to connect with the things they are interested in … in fact, people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday.”The latter part is important – it means that the change could make it easier for brand advertisers to accumulate fans quickly. But it also means that users might not totally understand what they’re opting in to. After all, becoming a fan means that you’ll start receiving updates from the brand in your News Feed.
Likes replace links?
Facebook announced Likes as a form of "social links" -- better than a link because it's related to a specific user. If ‘Like’ buttons take off, that's really bad news for Google, since its algorithm uses links between sites to determine their order in search results. Facebook seeks to replace this open system of links between pages with the "social links" (or Likes) that it controls. Google and other search engines won't have full access to all these Likes, so the company best positioned to rank the Web will be Facebook. No wonder the "open Web" advocates are sounding the alarm, concerned that a single company will stockpile all of our personal information and preferences. Already there are calls to create an "OpenLike" standard that's accessible to all. So, while this change looks to be good for brands, it remains to be seen if it will be good for users, or might even create more confusion.
Here’s the doc from Facebook explaining the change followed by the followed by the guts of the letter Facebook is sending to ad agencies. Below that is a FAQ sheet the social network is also distributing:
Facebook also announced the launch of Open Graph. Using this new platform, Web sites can drive Web traffic from Facebook by including Like buttons on their pages; every Like posts an update to that user's Facebook page.CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the Open Graph will make it easier for people to share information about their likes and dislikes all over the internet.