NOTE: The facebook like and share buttons only work to their full potential of promoting actual content IF your network is FULLY PUBLIC. Private networks and those set to Public/Show Only Main Page will ONLY SHOW YOUR NETWORK NAME AND DESCRIPTION NO MATTER WHAT CONTENT IS LIKED OR SHARED VIA FACEBOOK! It does this to concur with your desire to keep either your entire network or content deeper than the main page private.
OK, after much testing, thinking, more testing, even more thinking and even a little debate, I have come to the solid conclusion the Facebook "Like" button is useless if you are wanting it to spread awareness of your network.
As I stated in this discussion, the facebook like button only sends the liked content to your member's profile pages. It does not send it to their friend's news feeds at all. For a friend to see a current members' like from your network, they HAVE to go to that members facebook profile page, and no one goes to people's profile pages anymore, they surf facebook from their main feed page (the same page we all surf facebook from). For the member to get it from their profile page via a like, they HAVE to go to their own profile page, and click share. So, if you are using facebook on your network to spread awareness about your network, #1 don't sell your efforts short. likes aren't bringing people, we all work too hard to be counting on a tool to spread awareness that is not doing so. #2 don't put your members through a 2 step process when they can easily get it to their friends in one action, while at the same time better spreading awareness of your network!
If a member clicks SHARE from your network, the content DOES go straight to all of their friends feeds. this spreads awareness of your content/network faster and much more efficiently.
If you remove the facebook like from your network, the link that says "facebook" that comes up is a SHARE. in one action, a member sends your content to all of their FRIENDS, not to their PROFILE PAGE, where it sits, dying, getting buried and rarely if ever even seen.
What I did, was go to my language editor and search for Facebook. I found it, changed the language so the link now says Share this with your Facebook Friends! I also searched for Twitter, changed it to Post this to Twitter! and on the Share link i changed the language to read Share this on other great sites! (slightly edited after shooting screenshot)
Now, I know MANY of you out there use the like button for different reasons, like photo contests for example. If you do, this tip might not be for you, you need to weigh the options and decide what's more important. (On a side note, you can track likes for contests with the network like button, you don't need facebook like for that, but I know some still prefer it anyway.) I have facebook connected to my network for the sole purpose to spread awareness of the site, and facebook like does not do this. share DOES!
I have been discussing this with someone else, who says i'm incorrect on the different behavior between LIKE and SHARE. If I am incorrect, someone PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I have my regular facebook account and a test account i made, friended the two, and i'm liking items with my main ID that are not getting feed to the test ID's feeds, but the shares I click ARE coming to the feed of the test account. If anyone tests this and sees differently, please LET ME KNOW! I will then want to figure out what i'm missing if that IS the case!
what i would LOVE to do is be able swap the placing of the Share this on other great sites! and the Share this with your Facebook friends! So the Facebook link is far left, or first. Anyone know if that can be done?
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ok, i figured out something i was missing, but still believe share is better than like.
I went to my account settings and clicked "view settings" under "Connecting On Facebook" at the very top. I scrolled all the way down to "See your likes, activities and other connections" and noticed it was set to "only me", which explains why my likes were not getting through to my test account feed. So I was wrong in that aspect of this (very tiring) experiment. However, what i DID LEARN is that the share button is not caught in this block, content you share will still get through to your friend's feeds regardless (i have thoroughly proven that over and over and over and over again for three days). So, here is what i'm concluding now. Do we know which of our members have their settings the same as I had mine? No, we do not. An extreme example, lets say all of your members have that setting to "only me", and the facebook like is activated on your network and predominantly easier found and more used than facebook share (which is hidden under the share link with the de.lic.ious digg and stumble share options). If you remove the like button, however, it gets replaced by the out in the open & stand alone facebook share link, and 100% of your members friends will get the share in their feeds, vs. anywhere from 0% to 100% with the like........So, the whole point of this discussion stands, facebook share is (still) more powerful of a tool to spread awareness of your network than facebook like.
On your Ning network or on facebook? On facebook I can't find "view settings" or "connecting on facebook"
Is it possible for you to make a step by step tutorial?
ah, sorry about that, Brian, thank you for pointing out how unclear that is. Here are screenshots:
Rowald,
Glad you like it, but make sure you see what i figured out after the fact posted under the parent topic. I highly recommend people go set up a test account on Facebook and "friend" your regular ID with it, but DON'T like your fanpages with it. This is a good testing method to see what people on your friends list will see who are NOT a fan of your fanpage. I would've never figured out that likes privacy setting was set the way it was had I not done that. I owe kudos to Kris for hanging in there with me and debating what I was thinking, which is exactly why I made the test account!
no, im not seeing that?
mine pops up a window that says "make this visible to fans with" and has a box for country and a box for language....but i have my fanpage attached to it, not my regular acct...
On Kris' comment you didn't understand, he is referring to his network, not his fanpage.
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