Facebook Celebrates Star Trek's 50th Anniversary With Themed Like Buttons

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Star Trek “like” button. It’s September mission: to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek and to boldly go where no social media site has gone before.

Facebook is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with some fun, temporary features. Some people who have mentioned liking Star Trek on their Facebook page or status updates will be greeted by the USS Enterprise and be able to add a custom Star Trek frame to their profile picture. The legendary spaceship was constructed by hand-cutting and piecing together paper. The Facebook team then took pictures on a high quality camera of their creation.

ussenterprise profile pic

Facebook has also decided to incorporate Star Trek’s most iconic characters. The “like” button is the same, but with a little extra sparkle while the “love” button is represented by a Vulcan salute. Captain Kirk represents “haha”, Spock replaces the “wow”, Geordi is the “sad” button, and a Klingon, perhaps Lt. Worf, represents “angry”.

Star Trek first debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons on NBC. Ratings were initially low, however, the television show became a cult favorite on the broadcast syndicate. Its success bred six more Star Trek-related shows. The latest, Star Trek: Discovery, is supposed to air in 2017. The latest movie reboots, including Star Trek Beyond, have been incredibly successful.
facebook star trek likes

Other businesses and organizations are celebrating Star Trek’s 50th anniversary. Just for today, the International Space Station is using the Star Trek icon on its mission control map. A special screening of the 1982 film Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan will take place at Linlithgow Palace, the supposed birthplace of the character Scotty.  

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, the first African American to be promoted to the role permanently, claims that the characters Uhura and Sulu helped to increase diversity in space programs.  NASA as a whole credits Star Trek with "inspiring space geeks everywhere", while Tim Stanley believes that the television show expanded imagination. Trekkies, Live Long and Prosper!