If You Snooze, You Lose

In a world first, Facebook has officially removed likes from its platform in Australia.  Goodbye #like4like world, when it comes to social media down under. When you now open your newsfeed, the tally of likes has been removed for each post, you can still who likes and reacted to the photo by clicking on "others" for now. The desktop experience of Facebook and Instagram also shows likes, but they are predominately mobile first platforms.This feature of not showing likes or reactions is in testing and many designs are being experienced by users. It's a significant shakeup for the social media giant who made the "thumbs up" button a globally recognised symbol of online approval and popularity. Facebook, actually didn't invent the like button, Vimeo did in 2005, but since its introduction to the platform in February 2009, it changed the way users interacted with content. Facebook describes "liking" as an "easy way to let people know that you enjoy it without leaving a comment.” * The ability to like users' comments was added in June 2010 and the ability to "react" with one of five pre-defined emotions, including "Love", "Haha", "Wow", "Sad", or "Angry" was rolled out to users worldwide on February 2016. * But now the major driver of how many people "liked" your post is gone in Australia. So why is something that essentially fuelled users to obsess about, now gone? It’s believed that likes cause users to focus too much on performance analytics and has also been linked to poor mental health. A 2018 Pew Research study found 43 per cent of teens aged 13 to 17 surveyed in the United States felt pressure to only post content that made them look good to others. Meanwhile, 37 per cent said they also felt it was important to post content that gets a lot of likes and comments. Australia is the first market globally to test removing public-facing view counts for likes/reactions/video view for all content posted in Facebook Feed, Watch, Pages, and Groups. With the dramatic changed to users experience, here is the key ingredients personal and business brands need to adopt to master the social media worlds of no likes. Facebook organic reach is really low. Some digital experts say it is as little as 1% for business pages. You therefore need to set an advertising budget to run content on the platform. Try Ads Manager over boosting or paid retargeting products to help increase the visibility of brand.Just because you are not getting likes doesn't mean you should reduce the quality of your content. The algorithm will still favour high quality content and ultimately increase your following by serving more impressions and extend your reach.Stop selling on the platform and start inspiring and entertaining uses about your product or service. The only time you can sell is when you are using data or remarking products that show that advertisement to people who want to see it. Use stories (the little circle that shows content for 24 hours) for your brand like nobody’s business. This content has higher engagement than the newsfeed currently. Set up IGTV and Facebook Watch . Facebook wants to become the most watched platform on the planet and favours this type of content.It's not about being liked but being seen. Create meaningful post that users want to see. The better and more meaningful the content is, the more Facebook will serve it to its audience. What do you think about the removal of likes from the social media giant? Do you like it or hate it? Comment below and tell me your thoughts on the change! And before you do, they may have got rid of #like4like but there is still #follow4follow You can follow my journey and free tips for growing your business and brand on; LinkedIn Instagram REFERENCES: * "Liking & Reacting" . Facebook Help Center. Facebook . Retrieved May 30, 2017. * Newton, Casey (February 24, 2016). "Facebook rolls out expanded Like button reactions around the world" . The Verge . Vox Media . Retrieved May 30, 2017.