To Like Or Not To Like

Schmutzie wrote a piece about a two week experiment she did in which she did not use the Like feature on Facebook. You may know that your information is mined and Facebook uses it to suggest friends, movies, books and the like for you. It also fuels their personalized advertising system. Alternatively you may be one of those people that think that just hitting the Like button is lazy and we need more actual conversation in our social media. If either thing (or both!) is on your mind a lot then you might want to try this challenge.

Here's what I learned from just 7 days of not using the Like button FB:

• It does slow down the rotation of ads in your feed. I got the same ones I'd had going in - Roku, a bunch of dance companies - but they came up less frequently and didn't flood my feed with ads.
• It's difficult but not impossible. I didn't slip up but I did have to pay attention.
• I can get chatty! It was a challenge to give up the Like button because I do like to remind people that I'm around. Without it I had to say something. I decided that making a thumbs up icon in the comments section wouldn't count so I had to come up with comments that I felt good about. It's slightly harder than it looks. 
• In fairly short order I was afraid that I was too chatty. Some people don't need to hear me, they know I'm there. 
• Good conversations started, though. 
• I think I'll probably reduce the amount of liking I do and pay closer attention to when I want to hit the button. It's more than a little self-important to think that everyone needs your input all the time, you know?
• However, sometimes it's just appropriate to use the Like button to register an "Atta girl!" or an "I hear you!" or even a "Fuck yes!" though I'm the type who often feels the distinction is important enough to write out Fuck Yes!

I recommend that you try it. If you do I recommend that you try it for more than one day. Doesn't have to be 7 or 14 days but I think that, to feel the way it changes your interaction with friends online, you'd have to be a daily user who does it for more than one day.

Report back, I'd love to hear your thoughts!