How Facebook Will Fix Its Like Button Problem

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You can’t deny the success of Facebook‘s Like button. Its popularity quickly skyrocketed; it took less than a month for the button to appear on more than 100,000 websites. Now it is a standard method for endorsing something on the social web.

But that’s exactly the problem — the Like button is an endorsement. If you run across an interesting article and share it, it’s seen as an implicit endorsement. And although that has gotten Facebook this far, the social platform is ready to go further.

The company did some internal research and found that users, especially younger ones, were afraid to “Like” because of the implied endorsement. Less Liking, or sharing, means less interesting content on Facebook and fewer posts about what these users are doing.

Facebook’s bet is that more people will click a button that says they’ve “Listened” to a song or “Watched” a video, rather than simply liking it. That’s why Facebook will be rolling out “Watched,” “Listened” and “Read” buttons, as has been previously reported. But at Facebook’s f8 conference, the company will give developers the power to create their own actions.

Called Gestures, these actions are the next step in integrating Facebook with every part of the web. It’s possible you’ll be able to click a Facebook “Challenge” button that would let you post a game challenge on your friend’s wall, or a “Cheer” button that would let you support your friends when they need it. And yes, you could theoretically create a “Dislike” button through Facebook’s new initiative, though if I were Zuckerberg, I’d put a limit on that specific verb. It will be, as the folks at AllThingsD describe it, a “sharing explosion.”

It’s Facebook’s partners that will take this capability and turn it into applications that populate Facebook and their websites with these Gestures, though. That’s Facebook’s plan — to become the social layer on which the web is built. To that end, you can also expect Facebook to roll out a new Open Graph at f8, one that includes a much clearer and more engaging permissions screen. The new Open Graph will change Facebook drastically.

This is only the beginning. Facebook has a lot more to show us, and some of its biggest announcements may not come at f8, but in the weeksafter. Facebook’s launching season is upon us.

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Here are some of the changes we’ve already seen from Facebook in recent days.

1. Top Stories

Facebook's new design highlights posts that you'll likely find important, and prioritizes them at the top of your feed when you log in. The top stories are designated by a blue tag in the upper left corner of the post. From what we can see, however, top stories don't regenerate much throughout the day -- especially if you keep Facebook open in your browser like your Twitter ticker.

2. New Posts

Above your top stories you'll find the option to expand more recent posts, much like Twitter's "47 new tweets" real-time notification bar.

3. Recent Stories

However, the new post notification bar doesn't refresh as often, but instead automatically expands new stories much like the older version.

4. Hide Posts

In the drop-down tab on the upper right of every post, you still have the option to hide posts (whether to delete the individual story or to hide that person's updates altogether). In the new version, you also have the option to mark a post as a top story, thus increasing the likelihood that that type of post or friend will appear in your Top Stories feed.

5. Ticker

The new ticker on the upper right of your homepage condenses real-time posts. Hover over any story to expand and view likes and comments.

6. Ticker / Chat

If you expand your chat sidebar (whether or not you're online), the ticker attaches to the top. That way, any page you navigate away from the home feed will still display real-time updates. Adjust chat/ticker proportions by hovering over the gray bar between chat and the ticker.

7. Album Layout

Last but not least, Facebook has made album design a bit more aesthetic. Albums that appear in your newsfeed stack three photos for a more creative viewing experience.

More About: f8, Facebook, Facebook Gestures, Facebook Like Button