+1 and “Like” buttons: Stalking or Sensational?

May, 2011

Imagine entering a room, one that is completely unfamiliar to you. As your eyes grow accustomed to the dark, you look around and notice an innocent child sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. As you approach the child, he begins to speak. Astonishingly enough this little boy knows your name, the name of your spouse, your favorite TV show and even who you bank with!

If this situation played out in real life you’d probably be shocked, confused, and maybe a little scared or angry. Here’s the thing: this does happen on a daily basis – every time you hit the Facebook “Like” button. The “Like” button rates up there with the CIA (or your nosy neighbor) as far as knowing inside information goes. This is how it works:

• You sign up for Facebook and right of the bat they store away your birthday and gender.
• After signing up you are prompted to create a Profile, which includes even more personal information – your likes, dislikes, interests and hobbies.
• The really dedicated Facebook users eventually begin playing games on the site where they use their credit cards to buy, for example, Farmville “cash” to buy Farmville fish thus increasing their status in the game, while also giving Facebook even more information about them.

So add it all together and what do you get? Well, Facebook gets a whole lot of personal information about you, and with the “Like” button they collect more every time you click! Even though Facebook has faced numerous lawsuits regarding privacy issues, there seems to be no slowing of the “Like” button’s progress.

Of course, collecting of this personal information may not necessarily be a bad thing – especially if you are the advertiser! By using the “Like” button, Facebook is able to tailor advertisements to users’ specific preferences which can be incredibly convenient for consumers and advertisers alike. For example, if you’re an avid deep sea fisher, Facebook will use this info to ensure that fishing charter discounts will appear on your sidebar, thus helping with the fishing charter’s awareness and saving you money on your next excursion. And this is exactly why Google recently announced their decision to launch google+1 in the next few weeks.  

Google is advertising their button as a way to say “this is pretty cool” or “you should check this out”; essentially it’s imitating the Facebook button. Similarly to Facebook’s current system, you must have an account with Google to use the +1 button, which is another way for Google to track you and tailor the ads.

So, what does all this mean? Well, if you’re an open book, with no secrets to hide, the +1 button might be just the thing you’re looking for – you’ll be able to recommend your favorite yoga class to other users or find out where to buy the best herbal tea by seeing what the other +1 users clicked on. However if you prefer Big Brother to stay out of your business, be careful what you’re “liking” because, unlike people, the internet has a memory that never forgets. This means if you “liked” Britney Spears back when she was innocent, it may come back to haunt you years later, since today she’s considered “toxic”. And we’d hate to see your career ruined by one misguided click!