The WP Reader ‘Like’ button
I’ve only been using the new Reader for a short while, and I admit it’s handy to see what other bloggers are doing from within WP [instead of following links from my email inbox], but that ‘Like’ button worries me. It’s too easy.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against easy. Easy is good, and sometimes easy is necessary, especially when you’re following a lot of people. But when liking someone’s post is a substitute for actually reading that person’s post… well that goes against the grain. Yet that is exactly what the ‘Like’ button allows us to do.
To me that somehow devalues the whole concept of ‘liking’ people, but I know it’s a thorny issue. I know there are times when I read a post and enjoy it, but have nothing worthwhile to add. Sometimes that’s because I don’t know anything about the subject matter, and sometimes it’s because other people have already made the comments I would have liked to make. So I don’t comment but I do express my appreciation with a like.
Yet not using that ‘Like’ button freely has other, unintended results as well. If I don’t like everyone I follow will they think I dislike them?
At the moment I try to keep up with different people at different times so I can drop in on everyone eventually. But that doesn’t make me happy either because I genuinely do like all the people I follow.
Am I reading too much into this whole issue? Or am I just a bit of a social misfit?
I suspect I fall into the misfit category. In real-life I’m a bit of a hermit, so I’m clueless about how to maintain relationships with lots of people all at once. I’m the kind of person who goes to a party and either stands around looking lost, or huddles in a corner with one or two others having a deep and meaningful. Social butterfly I am not.
I admit the fault is mine, but still, I do wish the WP Reader displayed full articles instead of just snippets. That way, when anyone hits that ‘Like’ button we’d all know it was a real like, an ‘I-love-you’ like. 🙂
After a year and a bit on WP I consider myself to be a real blogger, but I know there are people out there who have been blogging for much, much longer than me. How do you guys keep up? And is there a sort of blogging etiquette I haven’t learned yet?
cheers from the hermit crab,
Meeks
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February 22nd, 2013 at 12:44 am
I’m with you on this too. I don’t use the like button on the reader. If I don’t have time to comment after I read a post I may ‘like’ and come back to it later to comment. Other times, I might enjoy a post but have nothing to add or like you said, many people have already made the same comment. The reader lets me scan for my most favorite bloggers first and that is handy, but it makes no sense to me to use it for compulsive ‘liking’.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 12:53 am
Oh, just read the last few comments and want to add…I follow one blogger who doesn’t allow ‘likes’, only comments. I completely understand why she chose to do it, but sometimes I just want her to know that i read her post or I liked what she has written and can’t make myself leave the comment “Honie was here” or “liked it”.
Also, just so you know, my likes are the real deal…always.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 11:14 am
-grin- I know Honie. I truly wasn’t doubting you guys! I hope you know I do the same.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 11:15 am
Yeah, I think it’s that ‘compulsive liking’ that feels off to me too.
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February 21st, 2013 at 5:30 pm
Nothing left for me to say except- Like. xx
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February 21st, 2013 at 10:49 pm
-grin- Pithy and to the point. 😉
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February 21st, 2013 at 2:32 pm
I don’t follow that many blogs. The ones I do follow I tend to like, so I often forget to ‘like’ posts that I actually like. *blush* But yeah, sometimes it seems to be used for marketing. If I publish something and someone likes it a second later, I’m not inclined to believe the like.
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February 21st, 2013 at 4:26 pm
I tend to post something and then logoff to work on the WIP, so I haven’t noticed those instant likes but yes, you’d think even speed readers would need a minute or two.
Kind of sad if it’s just marketing. Blogging is a conversation, imho, so what’s the point in just pretending? I don’t think it works. -shrug- Oh well.
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February 21st, 2013 at 1:36 pm
I like that the posts are not in full because I can usually get enough of the information to determine if I need/want to read the entire post. I try to only like a post if I have actually been to the blog itself.
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February 21st, 2013 at 2:21 pm
I love how you have all said the same thing about liking posts. I knew there was a reason I loved you guys. 😀
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February 21st, 2013 at 1:03 pm
I’ve decided not to add this to the long, and growing, list of things that concern me. LOL… please don’t worry about this. Some LIKES are bigger and better than others. I think commenting — interacting — is much more important. It’s true that some people toss around LIKES, transferring their Facebook behavior to blogs. But I suggest you not worry about it. Producing interesting content is so much more important and you do that very well.
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February 21st, 2013 at 2:20 pm
lol – Thanks Candy. I’m not sure why the whole thing popped into my head today, and you’re right, there are far more important things to worry about. I am interested in your comment that madly liking everything is something brought over from Facebook. I suspect it’s something the blogging world could do without.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 5:23 am
I could be off on this, but I do believe the “like” button in the WP reader functions in the same capacity as the “star” or “like” button in Google Reader. The like allows you to star the post so you can come back to it for later reference. I don’t think it’s the same as the start-widget that shows at the bottom of some WordPress blogs so you can indicate you’ve been there. For instance, I star posts in my Google reader all the time. Then I mark the rest as read. I can come back to the starred ones in a day or two and leave a comment. Or, I have left some posts starred for over year simply because they have valuable information that I want to save for multiple reference in the future.
It’s also a good thing that the entire post does not show in the WordPress reader because you want a reader to click through to read the rest of the post. That way it gets counted as a visit for your blog’s stats.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 5:27 am
Sorry for commenting in two places, but the site was being testy with me, plus I know Candy, so I tried to reply here as well.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 11:06 am
-grin- You’re more than welcome.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 11:11 am
Meh… WP is acting up for me too. Maybe it’s overloaded at this time.
I’m not familiar with the Google Reader but I definitely like the way its star button works. I don’t think it’s the same in WP, more’s the pity. Something like that would be great. And you’re right, getting visitors to click through is vital. I wonder if the WP ‘Like’ counts as a visit or not?
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February 21st, 2013 at 12:40 pm
I prefer the reader to not show the entire post, people don’t have to come and see you at all if they can read the whole thing from there. If nobody came to visit me I don’t think I could go on!! 😉
I am a Liker like you, If I have nothing to add I will Like just to let you know I was there and appreciated reading. I hate those ones who Like 2 second after you post though, clearly having no time to read the entire thing, they are just indulging in a bit of self promotion. If they do that I never go to see what they are doing, I don’t want to encourage them!
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February 21st, 2013 at 2:14 pm
Hmm… now that’s yet another perspective I hadn’t thought of. Thinking back I always have a look at who’s liked a post and generally go visit their sites if I don’t know them. On the one hand I like seeing new blogs but on the other I cringe to think that a ‘like’ is just marketing. 😦
Bloody hell, this is getting more murky by the minute! Methinks I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. Then again, that’s nothing new. 😉
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February 21st, 2013 at 8:43 pm
My internet connection is pretty dismal so I have not used the reader for ages, it couldn’t handle loading the pictures and would go sooooooo slooooowly that I just gave up!
I’m one of those who are still sulking all this time later about the Topics reader being done away with though 😉
When I first started blogging my self esteem really hung on Likes but now I prefer comments and real interaction.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the Likes I get but they are easily spread around and I see the same few people liking posts all over the place. Do you remember Pinky doing a post about that very thing, and singling out a serial liker who (by the time I read the post) had liked that very post, clearly without reading it!
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February 21st, 2013 at 10:54 pm
lmao!!!!! No, I didn’t see that post of Pinky’s but what a scream. 😀 And I like that ‘serial liker’.
I much prefer comments too as you can get some really interesting discussions happening. No lack of those today. 😉
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February 21st, 2013 at 12:18 pm
I agree with you and Carrie. I try to read everything that comes in, and there are a few that I might like on the quick and easy because they have proven themselves to write about non-nasties. Does that make sense? Like Carrie, if I have liked your post it means that I have read it, 🙂
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February 21st, 2013 at 2:09 pm
-hugs- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to question you guys or be all woe-is-me. That said though, you all saying that has made my day. 🙂
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February 21st, 2013 at 11:32 am
I would be very hesitant to click a ‘like’ button on a post I haven’t read. You never know what you’re agreeing with. I’d hate to have my face showing up as a ‘like’ on a post that’s actually saying something offensive or disagreeable, but I didn’t realize it because I never read it. So know that if I just click ‘like’ instead of leaving a comment–which I can’t always do because I follow so many blogs–that I have actually read your post. 🙂
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February 21st, 2013 at 11:52 am
Thanks Carrie, you’re one of my mob then! To be honest I didn’t even think about the possibility of ‘nasties’ but now that you’ve said it, that just reinforces my determination not to use that button! Well, not from the Reader at any rate. 😀
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