Facebook Users Will Soon “Like” a Page to Become a Fan, not “Become a Fan”
Facebook is changing some terminology around how people become fans of its Pages product, a move that could be somewhat confusing but has apparently worked well in the company’s tests.
“People will soon connect with your Brand Pages by clicking ‘Like’ rather than ‘Become a Fan,” the company recently began telling advertising agencies about the change, according to Facebook documents obtained by ClickZ and MediaMemo. ”People already ‘Like’ their friends’ status updates, photos and links everyday. In fact, people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday,” Facebook’s update days.
The changes are coming “soon” although a timetable has not been finalized and neither have all the details. The new term appears to affect advertising for Pages on Facebook, including both performance ads and brand-focused marketing ads, as you can see from the screenshots below. The company doesn’t say how other instances of “Become a Fan” will be changed, such as the wording for the “Become a Fan” button on Pages themselves.
One reason people click “like” more often than “Become a Fan” is probably due to the fact that it already means something else, as Facebook notes — that users are registering their approval of content that appears in their news feeds, walls, etc.. However, the reason that anything appears to them on Facebook is that they have already decided it should, through friending somebody, becoming a fan of a Page, etc. In this case, of course, Facebook is changing the definition of “like” so that it doesn’t just mean interacting with content. Now it means becoming a fan — an equivalent move, theoretically, would be “liking” somebody in order to become their friend, rather than literally requesting to become their friend.
So, with the change, users might click “like” a few times on Page ads, then discover that they’ve become a fan of when they thought they were just registering approval. But Facebook has already addressed this point in the FAQ in the document:
Q: How will users differentiate “Like” to connect to a Page, versus “Like” to show positive sentiments to an ad?
A: Users will understand the distinction through explicit social context, messaging and aesthetic differences. An Engagement ad unit, capable of making connections, will feature the “Like” button and show social context above it such as, “John Doe and 3 of your friends like [Page Name].” Standard ad units, not capable of making connections, will simply feature the word “Like” by itself, and may show social context above it that says “John Doe and 3 of your friends like this ad.”
Facebook’s stat — “people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday” — suggests the company has been testing out the changes and is happy with the user response so far.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:30 am
Hi i hope you can help me, my sister has leukemia one of her friends from years ago have started a group trying to raise funds but depositing the funds into her own personal bank account my family is really upset regarding this if this continues it willl lead to legal action i have reported the gropu but nothing happened i would like it be removed please.
My family is under alot of stress at the moment and dont need this not at all please remove Karaln updates group thank you so much
March 30th, 2010 at 3:43 am
awesome! its about time…
March 30th, 2010 at 5:45 am
I whole heartedly agree with this move.
To become a ‘Fan’ of a artist, band, or actor is one thing, but whoever saids they are a ‘fan’ of XYZ store?
I feel the interaction will increase with this simple but highly effective word change.
March 30th, 2010 at 6:27 am
Yeh no kidding people are clicking on it twice as much, because they dont realise the change.
i love how facebook PR tries to spin stuff.
I just wish they would document stuff and stick with it, maybe update changes enmass twice a year or something, as a facebook publisher (eg; http://www.facebook.com/LiveNascarChat ) it’s getting really annoying trying to keep up with old outdated API advise in the manuals etc. Plus undocumentated changes liek this – just makes you wonder why bother.
March 30th, 2010 at 7:10 am
This is very interesting. I think users will be confused at first since “like” is a simple function on Facebook. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:30 am
I’m not happy about this. Are we all supposed to change the messaging on our own sites from “become a fan of XYZ on Facebook…” (or whatever) to “please say you like us…”
March 31st, 2010 at 12:01 am
[...] » Facebook Users Will Soon ‘Like’ a Page to Become a Fan, not ‘Become a Fan’ [...]
March 31st, 2010 at 12:16 pm
I love the spin that was given. This is all about driving ad revenue by obfuscation. And even as an advertiser who runs ‘Become a Fan’ ads both on the home page and the sidebar I don’t care for the idea as I like the current delineation. This is just another semantics game that’s going to confuse/irritate users and advertisers will wind up with ‘fanbases’ that are increasingly diluted and ignoring them in the feed. Water down your product in the pursuit of chasing marketing dollars and you’ll ironically water down your share of marketing dollars that we allocate from our overall marketing budgets.
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:06 am
This is certainly not totally true. It’s perhaps a good idea to remember that by “opting-in” and becoming a “fan” you are perhaps a more qualified Actor / Interactor. This does depend on the product in question. Using “like” to establish a “networking” link is a form of “passive” social media strategy that can mean just what it says “I like”. It does not mean “I will use” the product or recommend the connection.
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:12 pm
[...] a Facebook page, like the one set up for Beyond the Rhetoric, you’ll simply indicate that you like it instead, just like how you can “like” a status [...]
April 4th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
[...] http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/03/29/facebook-users-will-soon-like-a-page-to-become-a-fan-not-be… [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
[...] has stated that in changing the wording from “Become a Fan” to “Like,” they expect users to be more comfortable committing to use the word around brands and other Fan Pages. Facebook has also said that changing [...]
April 7th, 2010 at 6:54 am
[...] to fan pages, removing the existing “Become a Fan” call to action, according to a post by Inside Facebook. Facebook announced the change in confidential emails sent to ad agencies (and leaked to ClickZ and [...]
April 9th, 2010 at 9:58 am
[...] Facebook is changing how your supporters connect with your page. Until now, Facebook users have been asked to “become a fan” of pages – showing that they are a fan of your organization, company, or brand. Soon, they will instead get to “like” your page, and “liking” a page will grant the same connections and privileges as being a fan. They’ll be able to “like” your ads as well. [...]
April 13th, 2010 at 8:21 am
[...] and at this point it seems to be more than just a rumor. Facebook is looking to develop a “Like” button for the entire web. What does this mean exactly? This most likely means that [...]
April 19th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
This is stupid. BRING BACK BECOME A FAN!!!!!!!!
April 19th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
[...] dieser Änderung soll laut InsideFacebook.com sein, dass die User viel öfter “Gefällt mir” zu etwas sagen, als daß sie Fan von [...]
April 19th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
this change is entirely marketing driven.
further, it creates a third-grade-like grammatical curiosity, in that one no longer is a “fan of Hulk Hogan” but “*likes* Hulk Hogan”; not to mention that it wreaks havoc when coupled with the more humorous, lengthily titled pages. . .
facebook’s focus groups are clearly out-of-focus.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Many people hate this new feature – please undo it!!
April 20th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
[...] on each of these ideas — which it has, to an extent, with its various user feed updates and its new Like button, which Pincus called “the most innovative social mechanic created in the last couple of [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 1:15 am
Bring back Geocities. This facebook stuff is way complicated, man.
April 21st, 2010 at 4:38 am
hell that sucks… they should re-enable the comment function for this button!
April 21st, 2010 at 9:45 am
[...] new here, you might want to subscribe to our RSS feed for future blog updates.On Monday Facebook switched on a new feature that allows users to like Pages (reserved for brands, companies, celebrities, etc.) instead of [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Has anyone noticed an increase in blog pageviews because of this change? I have my blog feed hooked up to my fan page and my views have doubled. I don’t think it’s because I’ve gotten more “Fans” though. I’m thinking that everytime someone visits my fan page it ticks off a page view for all the current blog articles showing on my front page. It’s skewing my data big time!
April 21st, 2010 at 9:49 pm
[...] you still have questions, feel free to read this article from Inside Facebook for more details. Categories: Uncategorized Previous post: Bringing Back A Little Piece of [...]
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:50 pm
[...] valde i mars att ändra på terminologin: Bli fan till har blivit att Gilla något. Fan pages är idag bara Pages. Dedikerade till företag, varumärken och organisationer. Det som [...]
April 24th, 2010 at 3:25 am
This is nuts – Pages were about engagement and building relationships. Fans meant they ‘belonged.’ Must be someone sitting bored at Facebook and needed something to do.
April 25th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
[...] many of you will already know, Facebook recently moved from “Becoming a Fan” of a brand to simply “Liking” [...]
May 10th, 2010 at 7:23 am
[...] Cacy A few months ago, I fanned [editor's note: Facebook continues to shift its terminology-- fan pages are now something that users "like"]. I had read dozens of articles about how so many brands were using social media and I wanted to [...]
July 20th, 2010 at 4:42 am
After making the “Become A Fan” button a “Like” button, Facebook made the people “Like” the comments too. So, next time, would it be “Like” now, not “Friends”? I hope you make an unlike button too, or dislike.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:54 am
Hello All,
Aaand where do i find list (or something like preview) of pages i’ve buttoned ‘LIKE’?
Thx
September 20th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
How can I add the like page to my Facebook home page?
September 29th, 2010 at 11:14 am
[...] For example brands spent millions driving people to fan pages and then, suddenly, Facebook decided they weren’t going to call them fan pages anymore. [...]
September 29th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
[...] For example brands spent millions driving people to fan pages and then, suddenly, Facebook decided they weren’t going to call them fan pages anymore. [...]
November 27th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
[...] http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/03/29/facebook-users-will-soon-like-a-page-to-become-a-fan-not-be… This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← I rated a YouTube video [...]
February 14th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
[...] FacebookのLike（「いいね！」）は、もともとは「ファンになる」と表現されていた。Facebookがこれを「いいね！」に変え、「ファンページ」を単に「ページ」に変更して以降、その意義ははるかに広くなり、同時にあいまいさも増した。いちばん困るのは自分がどのページで「いいね！」ボタンを押したか簡単に表示する方法がないことだ。いちいち「プロフィール→基本データ→アクティビティー→その他」を開かねばならない。しかも表示はテキストが羅列されるだけで、ビジュアルに一覧することができない。 [...]
July 30th, 2011 at 5:05 am
[...] The changes are coming “soon” although a timetable has not been finalized and neither have all the details. The new term appears to affect advertising for Pages on Facebook, including both performance ads and brand-focused marketing ads, as you can see from the screenshots below. The company doesn’t say how other instances of “Become a Fan” will be changed, such as the wording for the “Become a Fan” button on Pages themselves.” Source: Facebook Users Will Soon “Like” a Page to Become a Fan, not “Become a Fan” [...]
May 1st, 2012 at 7:31 am
[...] in partnership with digital media audit and analysis leader M-IQ, tallied the number of Fans (officially known as “Likes” — for you social media sticklers out there) on any given franchisor’s Facebook page, using [...]