There has been a lot of traffic on Micro Blog about ālikeā buttons - as in should there be one? Some of those conversations have been repackaged and moved into other places - like this one from Dave Winer.
The challenge is that writers tend to see the like as a ānodā of agreement with what they have written .. or at least as some kind of feedback ā¦
āIn real life thereās all kinds of non-verbal communication. you can nod your head, smile. Weāve come up with a similar language online, I donāt think thereās any more meaning in this. Weāre being human. Not a huge surprise.ā
š¬ Dave Winer
Iām not so sure. I am far from consistent as to how I use likes and I am guessing I am not alone. BUT ā¦ But the point of this post is not to provide a counter argument - but rather highlight the inadequacy of the like button a measure of popularity.
You wonāt have missed yesterdayās news of the passing of Jeff Beck.
Patti Smith used her newsletter to share the news and a link to just one example of Beckās extraordinary guitar playing.
As of this morning she has 326 likes and 59 comments ā¦. it is clear from the comments the sentiment - but the likes?
What are they liking?
- The news he is dead?
- The track from āAmused to Deathā?
- That the ālikerā is flagging their solidarity with her and Rogerās position on Palestine?
- The fact she posted something - and they are bookmarking āseenā?
- They just āauto likeā everything - and havenāt even read it? Because even Readwise users, who you would have thought actually did ā¦ well ā¦ read! ā¦ donāt.
To be clear, I have no horse in the race. IF @manton added like buttons here -
- it wont be the end of the world
- i bet whether they are enabled will be under my control
Back to Jeff ā¦ one of the best comments was a simple
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