SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The landscape of the Internet feels incomplete without a universally recognized button—a thumb icon that Facebook and other platforms have turned into an irresistible digital lure.
Whether you embrace it or not, this button has acted as a creative spark, a dopamine dispenser, and an emotional sanctuary. It even morphed into an international attraction after the icons adorned massive signs outside Silicon Valley headquarters until Facebook transitioned to a meta platform in 2021.
The new book, “Like: Buttons that Changed the World”, explores the intricate tale behind these symbols that have become both a boon and a bane in our digital age.
It recounts the journeys of industry stalwarts, including Yelp co-founder Russ Simmons, PayPal co-founders Biz Stone and Max Levchin, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, and innovator Paul Buchheit, highlighting their fierce competition for survival. Fast forward to the early 21st century, witnessing the groundbreaking CARLY experiments of Gmail, which aimed to encourage users to share engaging content online at no cost.
In the midst of this, a Yelp employee named Bob Goodson sketched a rudimentary thumb symbol on May 18, 2005, to allow users to express their opinions on restaurant reviews. Yelp adopted Goodson’s initial idea but instead opted for the “convenient,” “funny,” and “cool” buttons invented by Simmons. This nostalgic sketch ignited Goodson’s collaboration with Martin Reeves to delve into how the Like button evolved into their new book.
“I like you, I like your content, and I’m part of your tribe.” Yet answering these simple sentiments isn’t always straightforward.
Social Context Behind the Symbols
While Facebook played a pivotal role, the concept of similar buttons has proliferated across platforms, despite the company not being its originator and nearly discarding it. Five years post the inception of the social network in a Harvard dorm, it took Zuckerberg nearly two years to finally launch the button on February 9, 2009, overcoming his initial resistance.
Like many innovations, these buttons were not solely the brainchild of a single individual. The idea gained traction in Silicon Valley for over a decade before being accepted by Facebook.
“Innovation is inherently social, and Silicon Valley was the ideal environment for this evolution due to its culture of collaboration,” Reeves remarked. “Everyone was gathering to share what they were working on, and it turned out many were focused on similar projects.”
Efforts to digitally convey approval or disapproval from users on platforms like Yelp and YouTube thrived, enabling users to share comments and videos that boosted site popularity without hefty content investments. This process demanded a feedback loop that was easy to navigate.
The Hollywood Influence on the Button’s Evolution
As Goodson crafted the thumb-up design, it was influenced by the cultural zeitgeist shaped by the Academy Award-winning film Gladiator. The iconic thumb gestures signaling approval or disapproval became iconic through various forms of media. Whether to spare or slay gladiators.
The positivity associated with thumbs up in pop culture was echoed in the 1950s through Henry Winkler’s character in the hit series “Happy Days.” These gestures facilitated expressing joy programmatically via remote control buttons created by Tivo in the early 2000s. Around the same time, platforms began soliciting feedback on user-shared photos, conveying ideas that bred similar functions as documented in book research.
Additional contributors to this rich well of ideas included pioneering news service Digg, blogging platform Xanga, YouTube, and early video site Vimeo.
The Landmark Moment for Buttons
Regardless, Facebook undeniably transformed the Like button into a widely recognized symbol, largely reaping the benefits of its mainstream acceptance. This was no mere coincidence.
By 2007, Facebook engineers were experimenting with similar buttons; however, Zuckerberg hesitated, concerned the social network was already cluttered, as Reeves noted. “He viewed it as trivial and was averse to introducing anything cheapening the service.”
Meanwhile, FriendFeed, a competitor founded by Buchheit and Bret Taylor, unfurled its own button in October 2007 without such trepidation. However, the FriendFeed buttons lacked success and were overshadowed when Facebook acquired the service. By then, Facebook had already rolled out its version, after initially dismissing the name “great button” due to its perceived overstatement, as per the book’s findings.
Once Zuckerberg adjusted his stance, Facebook not only streamlined user engagement with the platform but also enhanced users’ individual experiences and gleaned insights essential for targeted advertising—accounting for the bulk of last year’s $165 billion in revenue for Meta. The success of the Like button prompted Facebook to innovate further, introducing six additional types of emotional responses in 2016.
While Facebook has not revealed metrics on the responses generated from the button and its related options, Levchin shared with the author that these figures likely reach into the trillions. “The content that resonates with users is arguably among the most valuable assets on the internet,” Levchin commented in the book.
Furthermore, similar buttons have also influenced emotional dynamics, especially among youth. Feelings of neglect arise if a post is overlooked, or if a narcissist gets positive feedback—prompting reflection on how to predict side effects and interventions, especially when beneficial impacts of technology remain elusive. Reeves pondered, “How can we anticipate side effects and interventions if we can’t even foresee the positive outcomes of technological advancements?”
Nonetheless, Reeves believes that the human experience associated with these buttons falls short of fully capturing the collective forces that birthed them.
“We saw the serendipity of innovation as a significant aspect,” said Reeves. “We don’t perceive the ability to curate preferences and memes as easily replicable, as they are a product of 100,000 years of evolution.”
Source: apnews.com