I am dedicating a whole blog post to the simple Facebook feature "Like". It isn't an innovative feature, it has been done by many websites in many context (such as Friendfeed for instance) but I think Facebook hits it on the head when it introduced this social action and I think there is a future in Facebook marketing with this feature.
Let's face it, we are lazy. Or in good marketing terms, we need to make everything as easy as possible for the users.
The easier we make things for the users, the higher engagement level we will get out of them.
I have to admit that I catch myself surfing the web and tell myself, I like this but only to not see a "like" social action to fulfill my need to give approval to the content creator. I think the brilliance of this Facebook feature is in its simplicity. I will not dive into my sociological, psychological and/or critical communication studies analysis of why this social action is a success.
What I want to discuss is what I think Facebook can or should do with this feature. The Facebook Like feature is no different from tagging. In fact, it is a specific type of tag that we attribute to information. I think Facebook needs to go further than "Alphonse Hà likes this" and reporting this information in the News Feed. If the word "Digg.com" popped in your head, you know where I am going.
Facebook should allow Facebook users to find out what content is popular within their Networks. I would be very interested to know what is the most "liked" content created by my friends whether it be status updates, photos, shared links, videos, you name it. This report can also get categorized by who "liked" the content. Do I want to know what was liked by everybody or perhaps filter it by only the amount of people within my Facebook friends who liked it? X number of people "like this" versus X number of your friends "like this". I will most likely be more interested in knowing what my circle of friends are enjoying rather than their circle of friends or in the case of Fan pages, what strangers are enjoying. However, it does not mean that I wouldn't be curious to see what is popular on Facebook today or in the past week or all time (hint, hint, Facebook - Youtube might be able to give you a few tips here).
I believe aggregating or reporting "Most Liked" will become a great viral marketing tool and will push marketers and the corporate world to produce quality content for people to enjoy. This should also apply to Facebook ads. While we are there looking at what our Facebook friends like the most, why don't you take this opportunity to show us what Facebook ads were liked the most by our friends? This gives more exposure to your clients and increases the chances of the ads going viral. Great way to give a viral marketing boost to the corporations' advertising.
Do you have Facebook? I welcome you to add me as a friend!
Photo by: 365mayhem
