Facebook announced they will be removing the Like button as part of a rollout of new features which include a redesign of the layout for pages.
Facebook will place more emphasis on the Follow button. Now people will only have the choice to Follow a page or not. This feature will be less confusing for would be fans who were unaware of the difference between like and follow.
It’s no longer possible for users to see how many likes a page has received, they will see the total number of followers instead. Facebook says: “Followers of a Page represent the people who can receive updates from Pages, which helps give public figures a stronger indication of their fan base.” Though they mention public figures, regular businesses and entrepreneurs will also see the benefit of this feature update.
What’s the Difference Between Likes and Follows?
- A like is a person who has chosen to attach their name to your page as a fan. When someone likes a page, they are showing support for that page. The page will show up in the about section of a person’s account under likes.
- A follow is a person who has chosen to see updates posted by a page on their news feed. When someone follows a Facebook page, it means the content from the Facebook page will show up on the person’s news feed (subject to the Facebook algorithm of course).
Other changes include:
Safety and integrity features – the company has improved the ability to detect activity that isn’t allowed on our platform including hate speech, violent, sexual or spammy content and impersonation.
Dedicated news feed – Pages can now discover and join conversations, follow trends, interact with peers and engage with fans. The dedicated News Feed will also suggest new connections including other pages, groups and trending content.
Improved page management – you’ll now be able to grant varying levels of access to manage specific tasks including Insights, Ads, Content, and Community Activity & Messages.
New text-based Q&A format – You can host a Q&A on your Page so that your followers can ask you questions about a topic you know about. As you answer questions, they become part of a stack of questions that your followers can swipe through.
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