Alternate Meanings of a Facebook Post "Like"

15 people like chemical explosion injuries?

Chances are you understand the basic intended meaning of a Facebook post "like" when it's used to give a pat on the back, a thumbs up or a high five. Things can get tricky, however, when the original post is not something fun, funny, informative or interesting. Here are six common alternatives to the standard Facebook post like:

1. Agreement: Whether a post is positive or negative, sometimes a thumbs up is a form of agreement rather than an enthusiastic validation.
2. Saving for Later: People who are familiar with how their activity log works often like a post so that they can come back and see it later. 
3. Sarcasm: When a friend is vaguebooking or whining, likes can convey sarcasm or mockery.
4. Sympathy: For posts conveying bad news, a like can indicate sympathy.
5. Confused Page Like: Often when people post an update to ask their friends to like a Page, their friends who don't know better will like the post instead.
6. Call to Action Response: "Click like if you hate being asked to click like all the time!"

The trick to identifying these alternative meanings is to look at the context of the original post. What other meanings do you see in your Facebook News Feed? Leave a comment below.

Back to Basics: Posting a YouTube Clip on Facebook

It's easy for social media mavens to forget how tasks like posting video links can be difficult for others. For the not-so-tech-savvy Facebook user, here are the steps to post a YouTube (or other video clip or web link in general) to your business page. To share a YouTube video on your personal page, you can use the "Share" button beneath the video. This is the process for sharing videos on your business page:

1. Copy the URL from the website - you can find a shorter URL on YouTube by clicking "share" below the video. Additional options will drop down, including a shorter, simpler URL.
2. On your business page, click "Link" next to the word "Share"
3. Paste the YouTube link into the box that appears and click "Attach"
4. The thumbnail for the video will show up - you can scroll through and choose the thumbnail that you like. You can also click the "No Thumbnail" box to post the video without a thumbnail appearing. However, this will prevent users from viewing the video from within your Facebook page. They will have to click on the link and go to YouTube to view it.
5. You can also change the title of the video and the summary that appears by clicking on the text and editing it. Sometimes the text is too long or, as shown below, an additional URL will appear in the summary. Just click on the text to edit it or delete it entirely.
6. Click inside the box that says "Say something about this link" to write a comment about the video, then click "Share" and it will be posted to your page.

That's it! This same process applies for posting links to other websites as well. Happy posting, Facebook page admins, and feel free to email me with any questions.