How many “like”s are we clicking per day? Hard to say. Yet, if we stop and think about what we mean when we “like” something, it may not be so simple or innocent. This silly thumbs up canserve to mask an array of subtle innuendos.

Basic “like”: A standard ‘thumbs up’ from a time before the dawn 0f Facebook, when it connoted congratulations, or success.

We also “like” in a hurry. “Hello! I see you’re online posting away, and as much as I want to stay… I can’t.” May also replace “Good Morning! “ or “Good night!”… might totally miss the content.

OMG! A dear friend passed away. It isn’t “like”able, and yet, we can’t just leave a comment. Not now, we can’t think straight. Finally, …of course we click! It was great to be your friend, buddy, I “like”d you. Common among youth, when one of them commits suicide, like dropping a flower, or shedding a tear…

Some “like”s are hot: “Maybe if I ‘like’ all her statuses she’ll notice me” Fat chance! Among 150 others with the same thought. It isn’t infrequent to have males posting the same statuses with no reaction.

There’s the handy “like”. Act as a bookmark and tag the resource we are interested in. That way, it will be conveniently located in our activity log for future reference.

The general thank-you-for-coming “like” . Often used by communication professionals to acknowledge each of the comments underneath their posts.

The activist “like”, seeks the snowball effect of all our “like”s. The more we “like” the more it circulates. Used for causes, music, artists, politics, health fund raising , crowd funding etc….

Let’s not forget the reciprocal “like”. It comes directly from the above case, but in reverse. The less you interact, as in react with a “like” or “share” to a friend’s post, the less you’ll receive her/his posts in your feed, and vice-versa. The algorithm will decide that you have no interest in this “friend” , Bye !!

Finally, the total marketing “like”. Massively used in “pages”. By default, we will not receive automatic update from professional pages, we “liked”. They are subject to a tigthter algorithm. If those pages don’t use FB marketing tools they’ll not go for a ride on our news feeds. To reach their content a “manual” visit is required, as well as a click “ like” on a post from time to time. Tip: This process needs to be repeated regularly….