Friday, July 22, 2011

Clicking LIKE

If you read something happy or good on Facebook, do you click the Like button? I do. How about when you read something tragic, sad or unfortunate? Do you click the Like button too? I don't, and my friends don't either. We find it offensive and thoughtless, as if you were a robot that is designed to click Like on whatever post it reads. But apparently, some (or maybe even a lot) of people do so.

The wife of a very close friend of mine posted in Facebook that she had a miscarriage yesterday, and to my shock, three of her "friends" liked it. My boyfriend and I confronted them, implying that it was insulting to like a post about a miscarriage. Plus it contradicted their intention of condoling with him and his wife. We were expecting them to at least click Unlike, but no:

My nose bled. So what *did* she mean when she clicked Like?

According to Merriam-Webster, to "like" means to feel attraction toward or take pleasure in. So, did this person "take pleasure in" the miscarriage?

9 comments:

  1. But if someone did "like" something tragic that I posted--somehow, I wouldn't take offense, it's just a click of a button, they're speechless but want to make the me know they're there.

    That said, I don't "like" tragic status messages/ posts.

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  2. Visiting from GT. I'm very cautious when it comes to "liking" status messages on FB as well. If it's something tragic/sad, I simply leave a message instead even if it's just simple message like "*hugs*" or "This too shall pass".

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  3. I agree with Rae. Although with tragic or sad posts, I usually comment instead of clicking LIKE because like you I kinda feel uncomfortable "liking" someone's tragedy.

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  4. Hi guys! Thank you for the comments and I'm glad that most of us are on the same page. :)

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  5. Maybe facebook should make a hugs button too. :)

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  6. Yah! Medyo yung ibang tao, naco-confuse :)

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  7. @rae: at least add an unlike button. :) great idea though :)
    @chew: yup it's really confusing to some people..

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  8. I agree. I only click "Like" on something I truly like. If someone posts bad news, I put in a comment. If I find an article/site/page I'd like to share, but the content is sad/tragic, I click on "Recommend" instead of "Like."

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  9. That is weird. I agree that when clicking "like" should mean you are genuinely happy for the person. Its just plain weird to "like" a miscarriage. So sad. =(

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