We’ve all seen them – the buttons at the bottom of web pages and news posts encouraging us to “Like”, “Tweet” or “+1”.
Or maybe you haven’t noticed them? I guess that’s the point.
I’ve just read an article where the author makes the following points:
- If I already use a specific social network – I already know about it. There’s no need to beat me over the head with it.
- If I don’t use that network already the button will be meaningless. Why take up space on your web page advertising it to me?
There or other concerns as well – but an interesting one is that clicking the “Like” Facebook button doesn’t actually Like your Facebook Page (which is probably what you want) – it just likes that particular page or post from your website. It doesn’t actually help you keep that person up-to-date via Facebook in the future.
A comment from the article:
“We removed FB buttons and traffic from Facebook increased. Reason: instead of ‘liking’ articles, readers share it on their timeline.” —@smashingmag
I used to have such buttons at the bottom of this website. On second thoughts, not any more.