Facebook launches a new "Like" button allowing the social network to spread its influence beyond its own website. How can I unlike this? We all know the "Like" button on each Facebook profile that allows people to show their interest in others' activity. The more friends like your status, the more influential you can consider yourself on your network. But Facebook is now applying this popular concept to a different field. Indeed, we should all prepare ourselves to see a new "like" button on famous entertainment or information websites within the weeks to come.
Becoming a fan of a brand requires the user to actually search for the company on Facebook. So in addition to that, the new "like" button will appear on the brands' official websites so that Facebook users can directly like them when they log on. It completes the function of "share" buttons already established and very popular on many websites such as Youtube.
But what looks like a partnership or an exchange of visibility from one brand to another is actually more strategic. Facebook has to pay a price to have a "like" button on other websites, because it represents a considerable opportunity for the brand.
Unfortunately, the price is people's privacy. Facebook will offer data about its users to the websites agreeing to display a "like" button. These websites will then be able to advertise for their service by targeting specific audiences thanks to the information that Facebook owns about us. I think this is the sign that Facebook crossed the line because it is openly using its users as merchandise. We think we are just expressing ourselves by saying what we like, but we are actually a part of a mercantile system we don't even get. Social media are supposed to connect people to one another, not to companies.
Social networks definitely have to think more seriously about the evolution of their business model if they don't want to loose their users' trust. The saddest thing is that people accustom themselves to the fact that they are being used because Facebook tends to be addictive. Even I, knowing the company's intentions, don't feel ready to give up on my social network.
One thing is certain: Facebook is blessed with an incredible base of brand loyal users. The executive team has to use this in a positive way if it doesn't want to turn Facebook into an unethical company. Because to me, that is what's happening right now.
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