A blue and white logo for a social media management tool called Socialionals.

Facebook like button

Share This
« Back to Glossary Index

Introduced on February 9, 2009, the Facebook[1] Like button is a significant feature on the social media giant’s platform. It serves as a tool for users to express their approval or appreciation for various forms of content, including posts, photos, comments, and advertisements. When a user ‘likes’ something, this action is displayed on their friends’ News Feeds. In 2016, Facebook expanded the Like button’s functionality with the introduction of Reactions, which offer a broader spectrum of emotional responses, such as Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry. A ‘Care’ reaction was added in 2020 as a means of showing support. The platform, however, has faced criticism over fake likes, privacy concerns, and its influence on reputation. Despite these issues, the Like button remains a fundamental aspect of the Facebook user experience.

Terms definitions
1. Facebook ( Facebook ) Meta Platforms, previously known as Facebook, is a prominent internet corporation that originated as a social networking site. The brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, Meta Platforms swiftly spread from Harvard to other educational institutions, eventually reaching the wider public and becoming a global sensation. Its appealing user interface and diverse features such as Groups, the Developer Platform, and Meta Platforms Dating are well-known. Despite encountering backlash over matters like privacy violations and the proliferation of misinformation, Meta Platforms continues to hold a strong position in the digital sphere. It has made remarkable progress in the realm of technology, including the creation of its distinctive data storage system, the employment of PHP for its platform, and the introduction of the Hack programming language. In the past few years, the company has pivoted its attention towards the metaverse, a virtual reality domain where users can engage with a digitally-created environment.

The like button on the social networking website Facebook was first enabled on February 9, 2009. The like button enables users to easily interact with status updates, comments, photos and videos, links shared by friends, and advertisements. Once clicked by a user, the designated content appears in the News Feeds of that user's friends, and the button also displays the number of other users who have liked the content, including a full or partial list of those users. The like button was extended to comments in June 2010. After extensive testing and years of questions from the public about whether it had an intention to incorporate a "Dislike" button, Facebook officially rolled out "Reactions" to users worldwide on February 24, 2016, letting users long-press on the like button for an option to use one of five pre-defined emotions, including "Love", "Haha", "Wow", "Sad", or "Angry". Reactions were also extended to comments in May 2017, and had a major graphical overhaul in April 2019.

The Facebook Like Button.
The Facebook Like Button.

The like button is one of Facebook's social plug-ins, in which the button can be placed on third-party websites. Its use centers around a form of an advertising network, in which it gathers information about which users visit what websites. This form of functionality, a sort of web beacon, has been significantly criticized for privacy. Privacy activist organizations have urged Facebook to stop its data collection through the plug-in, and governments have launched investigations into the activity for possible privacy law violations. Facebook has stated that it anonymizes the information after three months, and that the data collected is not shared or sold to third parties. Additionally, the like button's potential use as a measurement of popularity has caused some companies to sell likes through fake Facebook accounts, which in turn have sparked complaints from some companies advertising on Facebook that have received an abundance of fake likes that have distorted proper user metrics. Facebook states in its Terms of Service agreement that users may only create one personal page, and it has ongoing efforts against the spread of fake accounts.

« Back to Glossary Index
Keep up with updates
en_USEnglish