Facebook no longer wants you to ‘Become a Fan’ of a brand, instead it asks now if you ‘Like‘ the page. The ‘Like’ button has long been used for pictures and other posts, but now Facebook wants to use the same terminology for all pages. Why, you might ask…?
Although it may seem like this change is simply a semantic one, this could have big implications for marketers. According to Facebook people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday. This means that brands could acquire twice as many people in the same amount of time, making it easier to reach and engage a greater audience. I expect that there will be a large percentage of people clicking the ‘like’ button without realizing it has the same effect as what was becoming a ‘fan.’ It is important to note that ‘Liking’ a page is not the same as ‘Liking’ a post or link. When you ‘Like’ a page, it still has the same function as the old becoming a ‘fan’ of the page. This means your friends will still see this brand on your page and you will receive information in the newsfeed about that brand.
There is also talk of Facebook extending this “Like” button to other websites outside of Facebook.com. Similar to Digg or Twitter, you will soon be able to ‘Like’ content from another website, which will automatically be pushed to your Facebook page. Facebook denies that it will use the service to track users across the Web, saying that it bases ads only on information users fill out in their profiles. “We have no announcements or changes planned to our ad offering and policies,” says a representative of Facebook.
Removing obstacles to audience reach and engagement is almost always a good thing for brands. Are you in favor of the change? How do you see social media marketers benefiting other than the obvious?
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