14 DAY TRIAL // The “like” button has taken the web by storm. Whether you like it or not, Facebook’s latest move has been hugely successful. So successful, in fact, that others have started copying it, for better or for worse. WordPress has announced that it has now introduced a ‘like’ button so you can mark the posts you enjoy the most.
“When you ‘like’ a post two core things happen. First, the blog post’s author sees your ‘like’ and can click-through to your Gravatar profile. Second, clicking ‘like’ saves the post in your homepage dashboard (in the ‘Posts I Like’ section), so you can share it with others, or just keep it around for future reference. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many likes your own blog posts are receiving, there’s a new ‘like count’ column on the ‘Posts > Edit Post’ screen,” WordPress explained.
The feature is only available for blogs hosted on WordPress.com, not a small number by any count. Logged-in users will notice the ‘like’ button and section at the bottom of the posts, showing how many people liked that particular entry and displaying their Gravatar.
The feature works in two ways. On the one hand, it allows users to ‘bookmark’ posts they liked. These will show up on their dashboard so they can revisit them at any point. It also allows them to show their appreciation for an entry.
On the other hand, it enables bloggers to have a measurable way of knowing how their posts fare and which are the most popular, not only in terms of visits. And since you can see who liked your post, you can visit their blogs as well and maybe strike up a conversation.
There are a few caveats with the system though. The biggest complaint is that it only works for registered users. If you’re not logged into your WordPress.com account you won’t even see the like button. And if you don’t have an account at all you’re out of luck.