Saying it simplifies things for users

Mar 30, 2010 12:54 GMT  ·  By

One of Facebook's most known features for the past couple of years, the "Become a Fan" button, is living its final days, as it is soon to be replaced by the more common, and more vague, "Like." Instead of becoming fans, users will now choose to like a Facebook page in order to follow it. This move fixes some of the issues with the "Become a Fan" wording, but it does so by replacing them with the ones inherent to the "like" word.

Media Memo has obtained some 'classified' Facebook documents aimed at advertisers, which notify them of the impending changes. Facebook says the new expression makes sense as it's more consistent with other elements on the site simplifying things for users.

"People will soon connect with your Brand Pages by clicking 'Like' rather than 'Become a Fan.' People already 'Like' their friends' status updates, photos and links everyday. In fact, people click 'Like' almost two times more than they click 'Become a Fan' everyday," the email notification read.

"I believe this will result in gaining more connections to pages since our research has shown that some users would be more comfortable with the term 'Like.' The goal is to get the most user connections so that you can have ongoing conversations in the news feeds of as many users as possible," it explained.

The reasoning seems pretty obvious. Facebook thinks that having a like button will encourage more people to become fans of various Pages on the social network. This bodes well for the brands using the Pages, which, in turn, bodes well for Facebook.

But for the actual users, the benefits are limited at best. "Like" is easier to understand than "Become a Fan," but it may also cause some confusion as the "like" action on other Facebook components, status updates and photos for example, doesn't come with an automatic subscription to notifications like becoming a fan does. The change is expected to go live in a few weeks. Facebook is also expected to introduce a "Like" button for third-party sites.