A few short years ago, while posting music at a site where artists review each others music, I got an invitation in my in box from Facebook. The site was just beginning to grow and they invited me to come and put up an artist page. It seemed like a great way to give my music some further exposure, so I did just that.
I posted a photo and several tracks and waited to see if anything would happen. In the mean time, Facebook was continually changing the look and functionality of their site. After a time, they began to offer access to apps that made artist pages look a little more personalized. Then, at a certain point, certain features could only be accessed if you agreed to create a profile as well. I balked at first, but only because I was only interested in promoting my music. A few months went by, and those certain features started to look more than promising to me, so I created a profile and began to make friends.
Around this time the site was growing very fast and things were changing all the time. I wasn't sure if the site was something that I really wanted to be a part of so I deactivated my account. Some of the friends I had made at the site were into music and after a few weeks I began to wonder how they were doing. I reactivated my account to find that I hadn't lost a single one of them. At that point I decided to try and find some balance between what I was doing with music on my artist page and what I was doing personally on my profile. Facebook answered by allowing members to suggest their pages to their friends. Cool, huh?
That feature was short lived, as the number of members joining your page increased, the less access you had to that feature. I think at about that time the site did away with the Join button and went with the Like button. I can only guess that Facebook has gained it's nearly 900 million users by continuing to innovate and try new things. When they put Like buttons on all artist and fan pages, it's just my opinion, but I think that they may have given some members reason to think a little deeper about their choices. What I mean to say is that where members were ready and willing to join a page, clicking the word like may be making them a bit reticent when making what would seem to be an otherwise easy choice to make if you were only adding a page.
It's just my opinion, but I can imagine that more than a hand full of members have hit the Like button on a page that at first blush appeared harmless, then thought about who might see what their choices were and quickly went back and clicked Unlike. I'm not going to suggest that the site do away with the Like button. No. I propose that they give members who post pages a choice of whether they want a Like, Join, or Add button at the top of their page. This may or may not cause confusion among members, but I think that some members would hesitate less if they could choose to add a page as opposed to liking a page.
As an artist, I click Like on the pages of other artists all the time. I feel that it's just a small way to show my support for their efforts. However, the word like may seem a little strong for having a limited knowledge of, or casual acquaintance with someone.
Rest assured that as Facebook approaches it IPO there are probably more changes in store for the site. Of course none of those changes will be put before the site's members for their approval before they are made. Most members will barley bat an eye as they share their baby pictures or photos of the kittens or puppies that their pets just had. We all make use of the site to communicate with friends and family. And, change is a part of life, just like Facebook.....whether we like it or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment