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Etsy, Facebook, Goodreads, likes, Online Communities, Pinterest, reviews, social media, Social network, Twitter
Does it mean different things to different people? Does it depend on the platform? Does it send mixed messages?
You can’t always take it literally, people will like anything on Facebook. At least I hope they are just using as a shortcut to saying I agree or I understand, instead of actually liking the bad news or sad status they just liked.
Facebook also uses the word like to become a fan or follower of a fan page which tends to confuse people. When I share a link to a fan page and ask people to like the page, many just like the post instead of going to the page.
Goodreads lets you like reviews and lists (but hides the likes in an obscure place where it will likely get drowned out by other likes), but not comments.
Some people use Pinterest likes as a way to save an image without repinning it to give them time to verify the links before pinning it to a board or just because they don’t want it on any of their boards.
Twitter is a little different since it has favorites instead of likes. Many people use favoriting as a way to save tweets.
Favorites on Etsy are important to the shop owners because it increases their chances of being featured or being included in browse and showing up earlier in searches.
The event that triggered this post was an author on goodreads liking my one star review of her book. I was shocked and started pondering what does it mean? Does she like all reviews of her books or did she actually like the review in some way? I did actually say it was a well written book and I did like most of the book, but I felt like the ending completely ruined the story.
Do you ever like something that you don’t actually like? When, where, and why?
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Deb's Answers 
Here’s another common (mis?)use of like on Facebook – “Thanks for sharing this news” 🙂
I guess in years to come dictionaries will include a new definition of “like”… We’ve already got “googling” so nothing is impossible
And that’s fine, as long as everyone that sees it understands that’s what the like means, but I don’t think they always do.
Thanks for commenting.
I resisted liking this post lol 🙂
I use it to acknowledge, let ther person know I’ve read the post and enjoyed it, but don’t necessarily have time to comment or something valuable to say 😉
Xx
Enjoyed it, does mean you liked it. I’m just disturbed by people liking bad news.
Thanks for commenting.
An, yeah, I see your point. Perhaps I should rethink that 😦
Xx
When someone posts something deep and touching, and you really have nothing else to add to the conversation, “I love you and will always think of you on rainy days like this, thank you for paying the ultimate price for us and your country”
…you don’t like the fact that this person has to go through this pain, or that someone has died.
…adding sentiment seems only to water down an already heartfelt, intimate moment.
BUT
… youhave to let them know that they are not alone and acknowledge their experience…’Like’ may be the only option.
A better topic…what is an alternative to Like? How hard is it to create a Drop down menu “Agree, Here-Here, No, Definitely, Forever,Stop Now”