Thanks to Facebook, we can express ourselves with 3 seemingly simple functions which are Like, Share and Comment. But does Facebook really understand our purposes when we make an action on one of the three?

Currently managing City Pass Guide Facebook along with other two pages in Education and Transportation industry has given me a reason to research and learn about the actual functionality behind these 3 buttons.

1. Like

In the physical world, we can “Like” something right away but might forget about it a moment later. Most of the time, this stays in our head unless, it is extremely impressive,  then we like to share with other people.

On Facebook, whatever we like will show in the News Feed of the friends who frequently have interactions with. For those who seldom visit our timeline will be notified on the Tickers above the chat box. But I doubt Facebook can deliver all of the posts and the photos I like to my 1500 friends and 10 followers :). Prove me if I am wrong.

For Page managers, we usually check out the post’s insight to understand how wide it has reached the public. I am aware that the more likes bring more organic reaches on a whole.

Statistic: 100 likes reach 840 organic and 240 viral

2. Share

In the physical world, the info we share could be negative or positive but definitely makes an impression on our mind.

On Facebook, it happens the same way. But Facebookers seemed to be afraid of sharing things on their timeline because of some understandable reasons such as personal identity. And I do not want to mention about this as I am myself not willing to share stuffs only my timeline because Like already does its job to inform people about that. But one of my friend who are working in the advertising industry is afraid of sharing something on her timeline with a understandable reason if she shares something which means she recommend it to her friends. Therefore if she’s never used the service, she will never share even though how great the post or the photo is.

The Like button with a thumbs up is so recognizable that many shops, restaurants and websites are using it in some customized way to encourage their customers to recommend it. However share is the most important button that page managers want users to click on because the share strongly impacts their FB audiences along with yours. It is the viral reach which keeps spreading the info as much as possible. In short, the more shares, the more viral reaches.

Statistic: 20 shares reach 300 organic and 2300 viral

3. Comment

In the physical world, we mainly criticize, discuss or just simply respond to the thing that we would like to share with our friends. We seem to be very serious and always consider before giving comments or feedback.

In Facebook, no matter what comments we put in the box, it will organically help the post reach out to the wider public. I see managers who use this technique to improve their “Talking about rate” by giving points for comments. This feature is called “Active Fans of the week”. WTH??? Post nonsense comments and become active fans or idols of the week??? These page managers are devaluing the commenting system which in turn is screwing up Facebook.

Anyway, as soon as Facebook usage is down because of these techniques, these pages will be kicked-out of the game and will lose their opportunities for reaching global channels.

But it is true that the more comments bring more organic reaches

Statistic: 10 comments reach 1100 organic and 4 viral

Viral or Organic

Both like and comment have similar functions in reaching out the organic sources but what is the difference between them? If you are focusing on targeting organic sources, 1 vote for comment and vice versa for Like and viral.

Above is my insight so please add to the discussion. I will take it seriously so we can improve our influences on Facebook or at least understand what functions we should target for a post.