I’m sure you’ve all seen ‘like’ buttons and ‘share’ buttons on websites and blogs across the interweb. In fact, there’s a couple at the bottom of this post that you should be sure to click! Facebook’s Like button widget has become very popular among content producers. Website visitors generally know how to use them and a large number of ‘likes’ can lend credibility to a web page because the number of Likes are displayed in the widget.
Installing a Like button is relatively easy to do. You can create one on Facebook’s Developers site here and then just copy and paste the code where you want it on your website.
Recently, Facebook updated their Like button widget so that they behave more like Share buttons.
. . .Facebook has released an update that fundamentally changes the button’s functionality to that of a Share button. Now after hitting the Like button, a full story with a headline, blurb and thumbnail will be posted to your profile wall. You’ll also be given an option to comment on the story link. Previously, only a link to the story would appear in the recent activity, often going unnoticed by users.
What does this mean for artists and musicians? Well, the old Like buttons didn’t do a whole lot to get the word out. Now that Likes show up in a users’ feed, Like buttons could prove to be a more useful promotion tool. Adding Like buttons to your site will enable any visitor to easily share your music page, bio, video page etc. with all his or her Facebook friends. Whether Facebook’s Like buttons are better than the many other share buttons available, it’s hard to say. What is does have going for it is familiarity. Anyone who uses Facebook should be familiar with Like buttons and therefore understand its purpose.
Do you use Like or share buttons on your website? Tell us your experience in the comments below.