Tuesday is usually Twitter Tuesday, but I’m rather irked by some changes Facebook has made the last two days.
Facebook has made some significant changes to the way it handles user’s comments this week. A day before they did this, they changed the functionality of the Like button and stopped development of the popular Facebook Share button.
Changes to “Like”
Now after hitting the Like button, a full story with a headline, blurb and thumbnail will be posted to your profile wall. You’ll also be given an option to comment on the story link. Previously, only a link to the story would appear in the recent activity, often going unnoticed by users.
Although the Like button has had similar functionality to the Facebook Share button, I think the call to action / terminology of “Share” is more accurate to what most users are wanting to do with that button. The call to action / terminology “Like” to me, seems like it should mean to Like (or Fan as they had before) something on Facebook.
Facebook’s Comment Changes Irk Me
The major change, and this really irks me, is the fact that when when someone comments on Facebook, or comments on another site with the new functionality enabled, your comments is automatically posted on Facebook or the company/product/whatever’s site at the same time.
According to a Facebook spokesperson, the new commenting system will be a quick install for publishers, with a single line of code. Sharing comments on Facebook will, of course, be seamless. This is probably the biggest impetus to use the system – comments made on the publisher’s site or on Facebook itself will be displayed in both locations.
Personally, if I want to post something on Facebook I will, and if I want to share my comments on other sites, I would do that as well. I sometimes post under my name and sometimes under my business name and other times just anonymously or as a guest because I really don’t care to get into a debate with people ranting in the comments over something and just want to share my two cents. For example, I may not want comments on topics that are personal beliefs or political in nature to be associated with my business name not because they are offensive, but because they have nothing to do with my business. Although if it’s something related to web design or social media I may comment with my business name. Just like I keep my business contacts on LinkedIn and my friends and family on Facebook.
Related tweet & story:
Feverish debate happening on our post about Facebook’s updated commenting plugin. Join in: http://rww.to/eZsFzV
via @RWW (Read Write Web)
What do you think of the changes?