Everyone’s universal, instant reaction is to enter a fit of panic when sweeping changes are made on social media.
Remember last year when you updated Twitter on your phone, and suddenly you found tweets from someone you never followed on your timeline? Or when Facebook launched its own clickable hashtag the year before?
From a user’s perspective, when a change takes place it feels Earth shattering. But the lasting effects on alterations rarely ever create a ripple.
The news out of Menlo Park this past week has the potential to make waves.
During a live stream event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted that the company might be experimenting with alternate emotions buttons other than “like”. Facebook quickly denied that the changes meant an implementation of the long-speculated “dislike” button.
(Side Note: If you see an advertisement to download the “dislike” button to your profile, DO NOT DO IT! It is a scam!)
If you’re wondering how a dislike button would affect your organic ranking:
First of all…
Good on you. Putting your interest in how your company is impacted by negative reviews is an important aspect to running your business. Staying on top of feedback is of the utmost importance to maintaining excellent customer service.
Secondly…
If a “dislike” button is ever added to Facebook, there are really only three outcomes for your rankings:
- Your ranking might drop — In this instance, Google will read the dislikes as negative. Think about a Facebook post. If someone posts about a tragic event in their life, the only option we currently have is to “like” it. The purpose of implementing a “dislike” button is to give users a different option in emotions. It would seem counterintuitive for Google to always read a simple display of negative emotion as a bad thing. We don’t know if your rank would fall in this case, but it’s certainly in the realm of possibility.
- It stays the exact same. — Google might not read this activity as negative or positive, and it will continue reading Facebook content as neutral.
- Your ranking might improve. — People might feel compelled to participate more in Facebook if they can give their honest opinion. The “like” button is sterile, and doesn’t really incite a more passive user to engage. Given the vast amount of content consumed, adding another emotion will see the number of impressions increase significantly. For instance, there are 4.5 billion likes per day on Facebook. Give people another button to push, and you’d see that number shoot to the sky. With all of those extra impressions, Google would see your Facebook page as more active, and your rankings would improve.
It’s not in Facebook’s best interest to encourage negativity on it’s site, so the likelihood of the “dislike” button showing up on profiles is slim. A “sympathize” button seems more promising of a fixture in the future. In the event of the “dislike” button, though, a bad thing on Facebook could be a good thing for your rankings.
If you ever have any questions or need any consultation on your social media and SEO, please give SteerPoint a call. We’re happy to help!