/ Ruminations

Why I Don’t Like Facebook’s New “Like”

I joined Facebook this past summer and, because of joining, I reconnected with an old High School friend which led us to actually meet up when I was going through Austin, TX. I spend most of the day checking in on the site and sharing posts or using my status to flirt, quote song lyrics, offer observations, share what I’m doing or how I’m feeling, or spout nonsense. I am not, and would never be mistaken for, a luddite or someone who is anti-social networks.1 Recently, the Facebook Terms of Service bruhaha has made me rethink what I share on Facebook, but I have no plans on closing my account or slowing down my use of the service. However, this new “like” function bothers me. Bothers me a lot.

But it’s innocuous, you say, a simple and fast way to indicate you like something that someone said or posted. What’s wrong with that?

Nothing worth anything is simple and fast. If you like something I said or posted, it means a whole hell of a lot more when you take the time to drop me a comment or a message and tell me so. If you’re not going to take the time, if your thoughts and opinions are going to be further reduced to the click of a mouse button, then what is the worth of your liking it?

Pretty much nothing.2

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On this day..

  1. I have a rather boring job, but at least I have internet access [↩]
  2. If you can’t take 30 seconds to write something like “great thought” or “i like this” then, to be honest, I don’t care if you liked it or not. [↩]