The Politics of “Likes” on
Facebook
There’s
nothing more political than Facebook “likes.” Truth. If you haven’t taken it
seriously then you haven’t been very active or you probably are a recluse.
Everyone likes to be liked. Imagine President Jonathan making an announcement using
his Facebook account and no one clicks the “like” button for a week or two. He’d
know that there is some serious trouble. What I currently know is that you can’t
generate “Likes” on Facebook like you can generate followership on Twitter.
When you are not liked on Facebook, it may mean that you are socially unnoticed
or attention has shifted from you. Ignoring to use the “Like” button could be
detrimental.
Let’s
take a case where your girlfriend visited a mall. She obviously went
window-shopping and used her camera to capture moments. What she expects you to
do is to click the like button and say all manner of things about how she is becoming
a superstar. She knows it is mere words but it helps her psychology. Same
applies to anyone who shares an image with you or anyone who tags you in a
post. “Likes” are more serious than any other button of Facebook. I’m sure the
management of the social media platform knows about this. I am seriously praying
they do not bring a thumbs’ down button. A lot of people will commit suicide.
No
one wants to be rejected. If a lady just broke free from her marriage, it is on
Facebook that she would announce her latest status and expects to be liked. She
would share bathroom, poolside and kitchen photos. It is necessary. She wants
to share her world with you and win your approval. “Likes” are joyous when they
come in large numbers. hey can spark a smile on the most rumpled face and cause
an introvert to feel sexy and accepted.
A
sad side of “like” is that people use it wrongly. You post about a tragic incident
and how you’d need a hand and then you get ‘likes’ and not assistance. You talk
about the death of a loved one and some morons would click the like button.
That could really be sad. I guess there should be some instructions when you
are getting to use the social media. But people don’t read manuals. I don’t
know anyone who does. We figure things out ourselves. But using the Like Button
is one that is yet to be fully understood. This is not a lecture on it and won’t
become one.
I
don’t joke with “likes”. I just try to disassociate my emotions from it. If you
don’t you would find yourself in a mess. A large number of likes may also blind
you. The likes you get do not correct your bad grammar. It just makes it
obvious that people saw your post and whether they read it or not, they saw the
headline.
I
click ‘like’ when I am pressured to do so, without reading a thing. There’s so
much to read on Facebook. If a girl who you had always wanted to call her
attention doesn’t seem to have your time and she has about a thousand photos,
click the like on all of them and she would notice you. You would be tagged a
stalker but then it earns you a mark, you are noticed.
You
are likely to make more solid friendships with “comments” than “likes”. In
short, drop your clothes and you would be liked more. This “like” button may
just be a sign of what our world is becoming. Attention is needed. It should be
given.
I
like things and when I sneeze and get a million likes, I feel overwhelmed and when
I walk out of the toilet, it is an awesome man who updates his status again. It
is the reason why people visit photo studios, buy new shoes, fix new hair
styles and take fake vacation trips. It is the reason why friends are made, and
how people become celebrities. A Facebook ‘like’ is like getting the approval
of the world. When you have a photo with pretty or not so pretty legs, it is the
likes that give you the encouragement or not to continue or discontinue. But no
matter how hard you work, a woman, whether finer or not, would always get the highest
likes on anything she posts, her shit or peace. The social media is built like that. I wish to
beg the administrators to make the “likes” translate into money and I shall
begin to consider it intensely.
To
keep up with using the Like button is one of the major things you have to
learn. Kissing asses have never been defined until the Like button was created.
I guess life was more fun then.
When
people see your page and before they consider you important or not, the likes
on your images must grow over 200 hundred. If you have about a thousand, it
means you are a celebrity – a porn star or a Nollywood star. Writers may get
that but I think only Ms Adichie has the highest among writers. She is
beautiful and her smiles are awesome. I like anything that’s posted on her
page. I am like that.
To
use the Facebook’s Like button appropriately is to be inducted into the clique
of friends. Facebook writers have cliques. When a member of group makes a post,
it is the duty of the members to click at it and generate as much buzz. If you
were promoting a book and asked a member of a ‘rival’ group for a “share” or “like”
it may not come. It is like that. It is like a political party.
If
you are a writer and you have paid your dues; reading and writing, for you to
get certain people to click like on your post, you must have earned it with
blood. But some people have great offices. When a Caine Prize winner or a Pulitzer
Prize winner likes your page, it means you are doing well. In short, that’s a
sign of stardom. In your biography it could read like: “Nwilo’s post has been
liked by everyone, especially the high and mighty in the society. From Caine
Prize Winner, Rotimi Babatunde to Wole Soyinka.” Quite a lot of people would treat
you with honour, trust me.
It
is crazy but a lot of people are stingyth their “likes.” It is like giving you
an approval to live or die and often they prefer the latter. Enjoy your time on
Facebook and use the “like” button wisely. Life’s short.
Bura-Bari Nwilo is the
author of Diary of a Stupid Boyfriend.
