The Design of the Facebook “Like” Button

Abstract

Facebook is one of the most popular social media applications in the world with over 2.4 billion active users as on January 2020. Originally named Facemash, the name was changed to Facebook a year later. Since its introduction, the social media platform has undergone a number of modifications which has led to introduction of additional features and modifications of existing features to suit the pressing needs of its users. Notable among these features includes the live video, watch party, messenger, emojis button, Facebook advertising and many more. The Like button, which falls under the emojis button was introduced by Facebook in 2009. Despite calls by Facebook users and organizations to add a dislike button to their platform, the company is yet to add it as they (Facebook Inc.) the dislike button is not a beneficial gesture for it users since it runs the risk of generating negativity on the social platform. From the works reviewed, people click the like button in order to preserve their relationship with the person who posted the content. Again, liking a friend’s post is one of the easy ways to build social capital by re-affirming weak social connections. In contrast to these claims, some users click the like button because they are prompted to do so whilst others click the button because they just want to click it. Facebook can improve or add new features such as a chronological news feed, leaving a notice when sending friend request and filtering and mass delete of messages. Finally, there is a difference between the like button and the follow button. Like is a person who has chosen to attach their name to a Facebook page as a fan whilst to Follow means the person has chosen to receive the update that a Facebook post in their News Feed.

Keywords: Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Network, Like Button

JEL Classification: M00