The latest wave of Facebook changes are live today, officially swapping Page terminology from “Become a Fan” to “Like.” The notification that appears on Facebook Pages announcing the change reiterates that the new action is “much more lightweight, and [hopes] that it will increase the number of connections made across the site.”
While the changes were leaked at the end of March, many users did not see them coming. As usual, reactions from the Facebook community are mixed. Some find the new terminology awkward, since there’s no easy term for “users who ‘Like’ a Facebook Page.”
Those who support the change seem to be on board with Facebook’s reasoning – “like” is less heavy than “fan” and will no doubt lead to more connections. But as we previously discussed, a lighter affinity for a brand is unlikely to produce the results marketers hope for. The passionate “fan” is out of the picture.
Naturally, the news pushed Facebook to a trending topic on Twitter, with plenty of users threatening to quit among the new wave of changes. But despite threats, Facebook is unlikely to lose their user base, and pages are unlikely to take a hit in their fan group-of-users-who-designate-preference-for-them base. As we’ve seen before, people will get used to the latest switch and settle down until the next change comes along.
