Tessa Horehled | Strategic Marketer, Community Manager, Brand Strategist, Digital Communications Specialist | ATL / NYC

Facebook Changes “Fan” To “Like”

Facebook announced last week that they plan to roll out a language change as part of a larger effort to improve user experience, increase engagement and promote consistency across the platform.

Users will soon be able to connect with your Page by clicking “Like” rather than “Become a Fan.” Source: Facebook

I absolutely believe that Facebook is making this change because they feel it will make users more comfortable linking up with a brand. The idea of “liking” a brand is much more natural than becoming a “fan” of a brand and this change in language is in an effort to lower the threshold between natural language and the call-to-action on the platform.

Yes, there are some arguments about the “lesser” commitment implied in the language alteration but I believe it will only help solicit even more engagement and opt-in from users on Facebook. In practice, nothing about the interaction is changing, only the language.

How do you think this change in language will affect user interaction with Fan Pages? Do you feel that this change is good for brands?

Link Your Twitter Account To Your Facebook Fan Page

It is now possible to link your official Twitter account to your business’ Facebook Fan Page. What this essentially means is that you are now able to post to Facebook and Twitter at the same time.

While cross-posting is efficient for busy small teams and large organizations alike, I very strongly feel this is a spammy practice and should be avoided in most situations. Facebook and Twitter are very different platforms and users interact and communicate on each of the platforms in very different ways. These differences call for, at minimum, tweaked language per platform. Would you use the same copy for radio and television? Banner ads and text ads? Email campaigns and printed flyers?

If you would like to connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts:

1. Visit http://www.facebook.com/twitter/

2. Select “Link To Twitter” next to the Fan Page you would like to connect with. You must have admin privileges to do this.
3. It will redirect you to Twitter where you will need to log in under the Twitter account you would like to connect to the Facebook.

4. You will then be redirected back to Facebook and receive a confirmation of the link creation.

Note: Facebook has a built-in option for you to undo this connection if you should need to do so.

Do you cross-post your content? Why or why not? Do you feel Facebook integrating this new feature will turn off Fan Page fans or Twitter followers from the brands they connect with?