All about Facebook's 'Like' button

Websites throughout Asia have been adding Facebook's 'Like' button to drive traffic. So what do the region's brands and media owners need to know?

1. At last month's F8 conference for developers in the US, Facebook unveiled a number of new plug-ins that third-party publishers could add to their sites.

The most talked-about of these plug-ins was a 'Like' button, allowing consumers to signal that they like a piece of content and to share this preference with their Facebook friends. Also unveiled was a 'Recommend' button, allowing publishers to display a list of the most recommended articles on their sites, and 'Activity feeds', allowing users of a site who are logged in to Facebook to see what content their friends are sharing without having to visit Facebook.
Facebook launched the plug-ins with more than 75 websites from 10 countries, but they have spread quickly. Within 24 hours, the buttons had generated more than a billion impressions. Within the first week 50,000 sites had implemented the new plug-ins.

2. Although most of the initial launch sites were in the West, these plug-ins have great potential for publishers with Asian audiences.

Last year Facebook became the leading social network in several Southeast Asian nations, and in India it is closing in on market leader Orkut (in March it had 14.5 million users to Orkut's 18.1 million). Interestingly, a spokesman for ESPN, which launched the buttons on its Cricinfo site, notes that Indian cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar have seen the highest number of 'Likes'.
The biggest benefit for third-party sites is extra traffic, as users advertise their content preferences. "The 'Like' button is an example of the increasingly blurred lines between consumers, media owners and content owners," says Richard Dunmall, general manager of Microsoft Advertising, Greater Asia-Pacific.

3. There are definite implications for brands too, if they use the 'Like' button on their own websites or alongside related content.

"In an influencer environment where 90 per cent of people trust recommendations from people they know, the 'Like' button can become a powerful form of brand amplification," adds Dunmall. For brands that sell online, the buttons may act as a sales driver. And they may even add an extra metric to banners. "Another dimension which has not been discussed much is the ability to use 'Like' within online advertising assets (as opposed to its proximity to on-site content)," says Mark Cripps, Asia-Pacific director at MRM Worldwide. "This throws a new set of metrics into the online banner space - now we can compare the number of impressions, number of clicks, engagement levels and number of 'Likes'."

4. The system also allows sites that use it to contact people who have 'Liked' something in future, and for brands that opens up Facebook as a targeted DM tool.

For example, a DVD rental service can place 'Like' buttons on its site so users can indicate which films they have enjoyed. It can then contact those users via Facebook with updates on, for example, sequels to that film. This costs nothing.
The data of who is liking what is stored by Facebook. Sites that want to contact consumers who have 'Liked' them do not have access to their profiles, and have to go through Facebook to do it.

5. Facebook's control of all this user preference data has sparked plenty of speculation about the long-term plans for this service.

In particular, some have mused that adding preference information to the profile data already stored by Facebook could create a substantial behavioural targeting platform that the social network can control. In short, this could be key to Facebook's attempts to monetise. On paper, it looks hugely impressive. But the jury is out as to just how powerful a tool this will be. Cripps, for one, is sceptical. "With potential regulation coming to this area and, we suspect, some degree of user boredom with the functionality bound to arise, we think there's only a small window to deploy it effectively."

What it means for...

PUBLISHERS
> Facebook's plug-ins are a way of helping publishers take advantage of social media. The 'Like' button means recommendations of content can be distributed to a user's friends via their Facebook feeds. What's more, if a user visits a third-party site while he or she is logged into Facebook, they can see what on that site their friends have already 'Liked'.

> The value lies in the power of trusted recommendations. Users are more likely to click on content that their friends have already shown a preference for. In short, that means publishers can use Facebook's huge user base to distribute their content and bring readers to their sites.

> The 'Like' button and the other plugins also add an extra social element to a publisher's website.

MARKETERS
> Marketers can contact users who have 'Liked' something on their site to update them with relevant information via the users' own Facebook feed. This is especially useful for brands with an e-commerce function. However, they do not have access to information on the people who have clicked the 'Like' button; that is retained by Facebook.

> Given the amount of data involved, there is speculation about the potential for behavioural targeting using this platform, though so far it is only speculation.

> Commercial development of these tools may run into concerns over privacy. The line between what level of marketing is appropriate using social tools such as these is still very unclear.

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This article was originally published in the 20 May 2010 issue of Media.