Like it, share it or follow it?
Last week I made a design with share icons where people can share this page by clicking on these icons. The argue is on the “+1” icon, if you really are a google plus user you will know it’s for “sharing it” on google plus, but actually most of people don’t recognize it because google recently updated their designs but nobody is really aware of it.
For this, I decided to reorganize these social media icons, and tried to clear my mind of what they should look like and what are they really used for? I’ll list some examples that usually confuse users and buttons we should take a look again.
Follow (like) a Facebook Page:
Check out http://www.nike.com, think quickly what is the like button really used for? Ok, it’s not that you want to like the website, instead it’s actually to follow (like) their fan page. It is consistent with the like button on a facebook page which is for follow/subscribe to their post.
So it’s seems nothing wrong they put on a like button. But sometimes the like button could be like this website or the content, but we can unlike it if you regret to hit the button anyway.
Follow a Facebook User:
If you like someone but sadly he’s not your friend, well you still can follow a user’s public posts. Hey there’s no more subscribe button, just in case you are not updated.
Facebook like it or share it?
Read an article on http://www.vice.com, you’ll find a share button and like button in the article page. The two buttons are both to share the content on your timeline, but it can be a different meaning in human psychology level. Think about it: will you share or like an article that talks about “AFGHANISTAN'S OPIUM PLAGUE”, I don’t think it’s very likable.
Google +
Google have rolled out their new design which is white and red theme, also come along with the new Google+ Follow button.
The “+1” is for sharing the site or the content on your google plus stream.
The “g+” is for going to their google plus page and you can follow them later.
Google+ Follow button is to lets visitors follow you from your site.
Social buttons on web design.
We can customize the look of share and follow in web design, but make sure put a title says like ”Share this” or “Follow Us” around the icon group, or show a tooltip says the action like “share on facebook”, which helps users clearly understand the functionality. And sure, you should never mix share and follow in the same icon group as well, the icons should be relevant to each other. For example if an email icon in a share group, it should act to share the content by email, else if it’s in the follow group, it should be a subscribe newsletter button.
Be social, but not too much!
Don’t use too many social media buttons, users will not share the content on every account, usually they will choose one of them to share it. Moreover an average user doesn’t even know what all those icons are used for.Too many social buttons will just make website clutter, confusing and annoying, people will more likely leave your site with no social.
*Here are the developer pages of each social media where you can generate buttons:
