australian facebook

Like is definitely not the new link. A few months after Facebook rolled out its now-ubiquitous Like Button and the idea that “social links” might replace links, I have an answer to the question “Did Like Just Replace The Link?”

A recent New York Times blog post about Twitter’s @earlybird account includes a few links. The words around those links (context) tell readers and search engines what they can expect:

Contrast that to the information you can gather ff a reader “likes” that same blog post:

  • The reader likes the blog post or
  • The reader likes Twitter or
  • The reader likes e-commerce or
  • The reader likes Twitter’s new @earlybird account or
  • The reader likes Twitter’s advertising or
  • The reader likes blogger Claire Cain Miller or
  • You get the picture

The big question/challenge with Facebook’s current like button is that you have to ask “what does ‘like’ mean, anyway?”

Image courtesy of James Allenspach via Flickr