On Friday, February 3rd, "On The Media" ran a segment about Facebook and its Like button called "That Little Thing Called 'Like.' " (You can read it here, or listen to it here. Notice that they also have several other segments about Facebook.)
As well as featuring some toothsome sound bites from our Ms. Paine (CEO of KDPaine & Partners, and the Publisher of this blog newsletter) the segment includes the following intriguing facts:
- 93 percent of Facebook users Like something at least once a month.
- Coca-Cola has been Liked 38 million times, which is about the population of Poland.
- Part of the reason people Like each other on Facebook is the human version of physical grooming behavior in primates; it's letting the public know that individuals are connected.
- 58 percent of people who Like brands are hoping to be rewarded with discounts or freebies.
- Only 42 percent of active Facebookers believe that "Liking" a brand constitutes actually being a fan.
- A Facebook algorithm called EdgeRank sorts through all your incoming items. It weighs your closeness to the source, the nature of what's being shared and how long ago it was posted. And whatever makes it through EdgeRank's filter winds up in your newsfeed. Everything else does not.
--WTP
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--Bill Paarlberg is editor of The Measurement Standard blog and newsletter, and of Katie Paine's book “Measure What Matters.” He is also editor of the book “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit,” by Beth Kanter and Katie Paine, which will be published this year by Wiley. The Measurement Standard is a publication of KDPaine & Partners, a company that delivers custom research to measure brand image, public relationships, and engagement. Follow Bill Paarlberg on Twitter.
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many… Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders... But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” 
Most of these statistics were not very surprising to me. While I don't think I understand the technical nitty gritty of what "liking" something on Facebook does algorithm-wise, I don't think must people think they are doing much when they "like" something.
Posted by: Megan Jones | April 19, 2012 at 12:11 PM
That's interesting, Megan. Most companies and organizations think that liking is a fairly big deal; they assume that the person is a fan, a consumer, and perhaps an advocate for their products or organization. Maybe organizations take liking more seriously that people do?
Posted by: Bill Paarlberg, Measurement Standard Editor | April 23, 2012 at 11:19 AM