Who exactly is benefitting the most from me hitting the like button? Apparently the following parties benefit from those billions (yes billions) of likes each day:
Me: Facebook has an algorithm that shows me people and information that I’m more interested in based on my like behaviour. It’s not always spot on but nonetheless it has a smart engine that shares timely content from people I care about.
Brands: Likes feed brands who are trying to understand how they can refine their content distribution (copy, timing, targeting). They also increase the visibility of branded content through all sorts of Edgerank-y goodness.
Facebook (Part 1): Facebook makes the majority of its revenue from selling data. Yes, that manifests as selling ads, but in reality the company is selling the data that drives who sees ads and who buys them. Every single time I hit “like”, even if it’s on a friend’s baby picture, Facebook is growing its data stockpile that is being refined for their advertising customers.
Facebook (Part 2): When I give my friends likes, a little Pavlovian red flag goes off in their browser windows and it pulls them back into Facebook. There they spend more time, see more ads, and see more ads, and see more ads. While directly my likes may help my friends’ important posts rise to the top, it also trains them to crave likes and potentially augment their sharing behaviour to earn them more likes.
