Facebook Amputates Thumb from Redesigned 'Like' Button
As I sit here writing this, I'm thinking, "Should I depressed that it's a newsworthy topic when Facebook changes its 'Like' button, or just accept that it's a sign of the times we live in?" I'm not sure of the answer, but as silly as it sounds, in this case, a revamped icon is kind of a big deal, and for a number of reasons. The first, of course, is that Facebook is home to more than 1.15 billion active monthly users, making it the most popular social network in the universe.
All those members add up to one very large asset for Facebook, which rakes in tons of cash by advertising to all those eyeballs, plus the cut it gets from in-app purchases of casual games that flood the network. Without those members, Facebook's value circles the drain, and that's not good for a company that's now publicly traded.
It might seem petty, but something as simple as an icon change can enrage the masses. That might be the reason why Facebook has never altered its Like button before today. That's right, the Like button has never once been tweaked, though it does get viewed over 22 billion times daily across more than 7.5 million websites. Pretty staggering, isn't it?
For the first time, the Like button looks different than it did the day before.
"Today, we're introducing a new design for both Like and Share to help people share more great content across the web. We're already seeing a favorable increase in Likes and Shares with the new design and will be rolling these buttons out to everyone in the coming weeks," Facebook announced in a blog post. "If you are currently using the old Like button, you'll be automatically upgraded to the new design as part of our roll out. We've also made it easy for you to include the Like and Share buttons side by side and the Share button by itself."
The iconic Thumbs Up graphic is now a relic, and in its place is a blue bar with a white "f" and the word "Like" (or "Share") imprinted using the Helvetica font (in case you're curious).
In addition to the new look, Facebook is putting its Like and Share buttons next to each other to encourage websites to use both. The difference between the two is that the Like button instantly posts content to Facebook, while the Share button allows you to add a comment first.
So, what's the verdict? Do you Like or Dislike the change?
All those members add up to one very large asset for Facebook, which rakes in tons of cash by advertising to all those eyeballs, plus the cut it gets from in-app purchases of casual games that flood the network. Without those members, Facebook's value circles the drain, and that's not good for a company that's now publicly traded.
It might seem petty, but something as simple as an icon change can enrage the masses. That might be the reason why Facebook has never altered its Like button before today. That's right, the Like button has never once been tweaked, though it does get viewed over 22 billion times daily across more than 7.5 million websites. Pretty staggering, isn't it?
For the first time, the Like button looks different than it did the day before.
"Today, we're introducing a new design for both Like and Share to help people share more great content across the web. We're already seeing a favorable increase in Likes and Shares with the new design and will be rolling these buttons out to everyone in the coming weeks," Facebook announced in a blog post. "If you are currently using the old Like button, you'll be automatically upgraded to the new design as part of our roll out. We've also made it easy for you to include the Like and Share buttons side by side and the Share button by itself."
The iconic Thumbs Up graphic is now a relic, and in its place is a blue bar with a white "f" and the word "Like" (or "Share") imprinted using the Helvetica font (in case you're curious).
In addition to the new look, Facebook is putting its Like and Share buttons next to each other to encourage websites to use both. The difference between the two is that the Like button instantly posts content to Facebook, while the Share button allows you to add a comment first.
So, what's the verdict? Do you Like or Dislike the change?
