Early today and into this evening, you may have noticed that the Facebook “Share” button was not working for new articles on the blog (now it seems to be working).  Why?  N0t sure, but after a bit of digging, I discovered that Facebook is ‘unofficially’ dropping the Facebook “Share” button in favor of the Facebook “Like” button (and making a few new changes to the functionality of the “Like” button). This is a BIG FAT #FACEBOOK #FAIL in my view — read on and I’ll tell you why.

There is a big difference between someone “Liking” an article vs. “Sharing” an article.  I should also note that the “Like” button can also be displayed as “Recommend” — and as you can see this is what I have now implemented here on the Perpetuelle.com blog.  This is only a marginally better option, because — as I was saying, there is also a difference between someone “Recommending” and article vs. someone “Sharing” an article.

The “Share” button has worked very well on this blog because it allows You as a reader to Share any given article with your friends on Facebook — whether you “Like” it, “Recommend” it or NOT.  The very simple “Share” button works in any number of situations.  The “Recommend” (or “Like”) button does NOT.  The whole dynamic changes.

For example, what if you strongly Dislike the watch I write about, but you Like my opinion and analysis of the watch — Would you click the “Like” button?  Or, what if you completely Disagree with my opinion that a particular watch is ugly,  and you think it is an awesome watch — do you click the “Recommend” button?

You see, the problem is this:  When you click “Recommend” or “Like” — what exactly are you “liking” or “recommending”?  The entire article?   The editorial opinion?  The watch itself?  Who the hell really knows!  That is why the versatility of the “Share” button has worked so well here.

I’d love to hear what you think on this topic — do you prefer the Facebook “Share” button, or would you rather we go with a “Like” or “Recommend” button — please leave a comment below!