We’ve all done it. A friend posts something funny, cool, or informative to Facebook, and to acknowledge the funniness, coolness, or informativeness, we clicked the ubiquitous “like” link. (Or the fave button on Twitter, the +1 on Google+, or the heart on Pinterest or Instagram.)
I’m not here to say it’s bad to click “like”, but I do want to encourage you to think twice before you do it from now on.
Liking a Facebook post isn’t inherently a bad thing. Unlike (see what I did there?) favouriting a tweet, your friends may be notified each time you like a post. Plus, the more likes a post gets, the more viral Facebook considers it and the more exposure it receives. It’s actually a true social action.
That being said, liking is an ambiguous action. Sometimes, it means you agree with a statement made in the post. Sometimes it means you think the post was funny or clever. Sometimes it means that although you don’t agree necessarily with the content, you agree with the commentary your friend included when sharing it. Sometimes it’s a sign of support (like with bad news).
The problem is that you can never know for sure.
The next time you’re tempted to click like on a post, ask yourself if the message you intend to send by doing so will be clear to the person who shared the post. If it’ll be unclear, then consider leaving a comment (either as an alternative or in addition to).
Comments are a far better way to engage with social media content (on Facebook or on any social media platform). They more accurately communicate your intent, they allow you to offer your opinion on the content, and they can precipitate genuine conversation.
Conversation is the root of great social interaction. It has been for centuries, whether while on a hunt, around a fire, in a pub, on the phone, or at a rally. Conversation changes society. It informs, it educates, and it shifts paradigms.
Liking, on the other hand, does very little.
