I am sure that you have heard about big changes happening on Facebook. As a part of these changes, you can see a “Like” button on top of this post, as well as a Recommendation Box in the menu on the right hand side.

But I am jumping ahead of myself. When I was mapping out this post, I was thinking about writing just one post, to include all the information. I wanted to write a post about the changes, how to use them on your web site and what these changes mean to you, a service business owner.

After I mapped out the post, it turned out to be HUGE, so I am breaking it into three different posts. The first post, this one, will be about the changes themselves. The second post will have information on how to add the buttons/boxes to your web site. And the third one will focus on how these changes will affect how you market your business online.

So, let’s talk about the changes. The first change I noticed last week was that my Fan Page button wasn’t saying “Become a Fan” anymore. Instead, it was saying: “Like”. And then all the new changes came, and now it seems that the Fan Page change to “Like” is a part of all these bigger changes. Since the way they want you to tag things that you like is by using the “Like” button, the best way to integrate Fan Pages into that system is by giving them “Like” buttons as well.

On to the big changes. The big changes are all about making the web more social, personalizing your web experience, and, well, putting Facebook in the middle of it, as the keeper of your “Likes”. Now if you are surfing the web for a movie to watch, looking for easy recipes or looking for a new dress, do you want to choose blind, or do you want recommendations from your friends? For example, if you want to make meatballs, wouldn’t you rather use a simple meatball recipe recommended by your friends? And if you are looking for a movie to watch, don’t you want to watch a movie that others have already enjoyed?

Now, you may not want to have the information about your “Likes” shared with other web sites. In that case you can Disable Facebook’s “Instant Personalization”.

You can also see how I integrated the Facebook “Like” button at my Easy Recipes Blog, for example Fish Tacos With Pineapple Salsa post.

Would love to hear from you – what do you think about these changes? Does knowing what your friends like on different sites help you make buying decisions? In the next blog post I will show you how to integrate the “Like” button into your web site.

Continue reading:

– How To Add Facebook “Like” Button To Your Web Site

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.