Thursday, October 14, 2010

How do I LOVE something on Facebook? An idea.

“I don’t just like it, I LOVE it!!!” In addition to clicking “like”, someone posted comment this on one of my Facebook pages the other day. Got me thinking; wouldn’t it be nice to have degrees of like on Facebook? Hmmm…now there’s a true blend of Market Research and Social Media.

Imagine this. There’s one of your favorite songs of all time. You eagerly click on the little arrow and play it. And play it again. And again. And all you can do is “like” it. Why not have the opportunity to rate it a 10 (based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being you absolutely heart heart heart it and 1 being I wouldn’t listen to it if it was the only song available to me on a desert island). What would having a “like” rating scale tell us?

On a Facebook page it would give a better indication of how truly passionate people are (or not so passionate) about the sort of posts you’re putting out there. And, it would be instant feedback. So, if something’s going right, you’ll know. On the other hand, if you’re bombing miserably, you’ll know that too. That’s actually a good thing, because then you tweak your strategy right away and try something else.

A rating scale would provide more meaningful quantitative information (as opposed to a count of likes) in additional to the qualitative comments. Granted, sample size could be small but at the very least could be viewed as directional. Sometimes, I received over 30 likes for any given post (out of just over 1,800 “likers” currently) on one of my Facebook pages. Not bad. And there could be up to 10 comments in addition to those likes. Let’s me know right away that this post is a success. I may tuck that information away and use that very same post again or something similar in the near future.

But it’s about more than one post; several post likes can be viewed collectively too. Posting a number of items that are related and getting a positive reaction to each (let’s say five posts with over 100 likes) could tell us that we’ve struck a positive chord. Do keep in mind that there are likely to be multiple likes among those posts, indicating that the overall subject matter is resonating.

Degrees of like would tell us if a post is a runaway success with many 9’s and 10’s or merely an “eh, it’s okay” with a multitude of 5’s and 6’s.

This methodology could be telling for personal profiles too. If you’re constantly telling your friends that you’re dining at McDonalds this evening, maybe you’ll learn that your friends are rather lukewarm to this information. But when you post really cute photos of your dog or kids, it’s hitting your friends on all 8 cylinders with the good old emotional tug. How do you know this? All your relatives rated it a 10, and most of your childhood friends were in the 8 to 10 range. Meanwhile, those 15 comments brought the story on home.

So, how ‘bout it Facebook? Can you do a little enhancement for those of us who get excited by numbers?

5 comments:

Carolyn Dawn said...

Great idea!

Cathy Konno said...

You make a good point.

Unknown said...

I'm thrilled when anyone likes or comments. It lets me know some one out there appreciates my efforts.

Ivan Terzić said...

Excellent idea! Degree scale is the best way to describe emotional connection of the post you decide to "like". Awesome! Share this thought on facebook or suggest them to use this idea.

Debbi said...

I saw it on someone's posting. It said love this. Still not sure how to do it.