By Kyle McCabe | April 22, 2010
I like it. Kind of. Like, maybe.
This month Facebook started rolling out a change to “fan pages” that takes the “fans” out of the picture. Now instead of becoming a “fan” of something, you simply “like” it.
I guess the reasoning is that becoming a “fan” is too much of a social investment for people, resulting in lower page activity than Facebook desires. I get that. There are plenty of brands, organizations, causes and such that I “like” but wouldn’t consider myself a “fan” of.
The problem is they took away fans, but replaced them with… nothing. What do you call those people now? Likers? Former fans? We have a verb replacing a noun, and it just doesn’t work. They thought “fan” was a little too high on the approval scale, but they overcompensated by plummeting to a mere appetitive whim. Blaaaaaah. It’s weaksauce (that’s right, weaksauce).
Like it or not (I’m punny), it seems to be a permanent change. So no more Fan Pages. No more fans. We’re all just people again.
But the burning question I think we’re all asking is this: where the DEUCE is our “dislike” button?
There’s your shot from the hip for this week.
About the authorAs the SEO team lead at RSA, Kyle spends most of his time thinking of ways to get a company-sanctioned afternoon nap. He's an amateur photographer, social media junkie, recovering gamer, musician, blogger, and all-around web geek. He enjoys reading, writing, and breaking bricks. You can find him on LinkedIn, Flickr, and Twitter.
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