I Like Your Content

There is a ton of information (“content”) that friends share on social sites like Facebook, Friendfeed, Twitter, Plancast and Foursquare just to name a few. Whether it’s pictures of a recent trip, high school reunion meetings, updates on the BP oil spill or the location where they are having dinner – one cool feature which lets people know you enjoy their content is the “Like” button. This button helps avoid friends posting “Awesome”, “Cool” and “Congrats” comments multiple times and reduces noise. It also increases the amount of content your friends will “Likely” share. And unLike a rating system, the button greatly improves the preferences of knowing what to share.

Facebook recently rolled out the ability to show appreciation for comments which offers support for approval in conversations. This feature is central to the way people communicate on social sites and no doubt will become one of the most heavily used feature. It’s also becoming the norm in establishing relationships. When Facebook first started they allowed people to join groups and/or pages – now they basically just display the “Like” button. Instead of clicking a button to “become a fan”, you now click a button to “Like” it — the same that you would if it were a status update or a photo — and this is true for comments.

Part of Facebook’s “Like” expansion is bringing the button to the rest of the Web. As you can see, my blog is currently using it and so are a ton of other sites, like CNN and TechCrunch. In essence, social is about enjoying things together and Facebook is making it easier to offer better experiences through appreciation of content. But be weary, the “Like” button will allow companies like Facebook (in my opinion the next Google) to keep a record of the stuff you linked to (or liked) providing it with ever more details about your preferences.

Sure you think its cool to “Like” my blog or the article about golf, but what if I could display articles to readers based on their preferences determined by they way they “Like” comments, pictures and statuses – I think I can also display advertisements in much the same way Billy Mays did - “But wait there is more!!!”.

I am not surprised if social sites will use fans to gather information and suggest ads based on their preferences. When Google first started out, they had no formal way to make money until they discovered what is now called “Adwords” – basically valuable search terms.

In my opinion, the value for social is that it creates a system based on preferences – call it “AdPreferrences” or call it what you will, this feature is certainly more powerful (and relevant) than showing me ads based on “me” searching for something. To understand the value, preferences are no longer based on you (or me) but rather you and your collective friends, their proximity of you and the friends and the content they “Like” or approve.