View Full Version : Where Do You Place The Facebook Recommend Button
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09-22-2010, 11:12 AM
As we know Facebook has allowed us to be more interactive with their website by placing a Facebook Like button (http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like) on our web pages but I find there are very few who use or know of the 'Recommend' option when setting up their pages with a Like button.
If you've got all your OpenGraph (http://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph) code in order, the way to get your Like button to display Recommend instead, you simply edit your code to the following:
<fb:like href="this.com" action="recommend"></fb:like>
Please note that above won't validate to Strict XHTML. There is a hack that works beautifully to achieve validation.
So, the question is, if you are completely familiar with the two options what do you prefer or when you do prefer to use either one?
I tend to use the Recommend button for a client's page where their particular service could be recommended. It makes logical sense and looks more professional. Some business owners have initial reservations about using any part of Facebook's interface on their website but after explaining the benefits of being connected to the OpenGraph (and there are many) they see the use of the recommend as nothing less than an amazing opportunity to bring more awareness to their business. I don't think they'd feel as easy with a Like button as it does seem a slight juvenile. I don't like clients feeling like their 'giving in' to my suggestions. I prefer them to believe it. I do thank Facebook for allowing us to Recommend.
What are your thoughts? have you been implementing aspects of Facebook's OpenGraph on your website? Have you been able to be uber creative?
We here at iEntry have tried both and we seem to get a much better response from users with the like button over the recommend. I'm completely assuming on this, but I think it's that way because the like button is a single click and you are done. The recommend has more steps that turn people off if they are just passing through.
It could just be the nature of the content we have them on, but our crowds prefer convenience.
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09-22-2010, 12:18 PM
Really? I don't know exactly what you mean. I do know that when I click the Recommend, for instance on the site I'm working on now, it's one step and all I see in my Facebook profile is that I recommend the page, as opposed to Liking it.
Is that what you mean Rah?
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09-22-2010, 12:27 PM
It's funny you say that because the first time I saw the Recommend button was on WebProNew.com. It took me a while to figure out how to make it work but I finally got it. But I do see that it is indeed changed on WebProNews, changed to the like button. You might be on to something...
Yeah when you use the recommend button it gives you the option to write your own summary and select the option for a image. All of it is optional but people seemed to not like it (pun intended... :) ). At least for us this caused participation to drop dramatically, so we switched back to the like button.
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09-22-2010, 02:09 PM
Very interesting and appreciated Rah, I'm going to have to look into this as well. Maybe in the end the Recommend button really isn't so Likable...In the end that's what we're looking for, more Like, more interaction and more referrals. We'll have to see.
Thankfully I've only implemented the Recommend button on two sites and a simple global find and replace on the site could revert it back to a like button in seconds. I'll keep you posted.
Good luck. Hopefully it'll be a successful test for you.
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09-22-2010, 02:16 PM
Well we get interaction stats sent to us, I've created an application for each site in question too so I should be able to gather some interesting data from there. I'll know in a month or so. I definitely re-post my findings...and thank you Rah...
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09-22-2010, 02:25 PM
Well we get interaction stats sent to us, I've created an application for each site in question too so...
In the above I was referring to a Facebook application.
See my reasoning behind this was for instance, let's say I was setting up a page for the OpenGraph for a doctor. On his bio. page, it would seem more intuitive to place a Recommend button on the page because recommending doctors is a usual practice (depending on their services).
Maybe the reason the recommend didn't work as well (on WebProNews.com) is because most readers are web/tech/marketing savvy as opposed to the maybe majority of users who visit a doctor's website.
I used the recommend button on WebProNews several times. I love it! I got to recommend something to my friends rather than simply say I like it.
We'll see how it plays out...
I assumed you were talking about the application itself.
As for our readers, It could very well be that people who tend to read our content are more savvy than the average internet user. What didn't work in our case may not be the same for you (or the doctor's). In that situation the recommend does seem to be a better fit.
In my opinion recommend sounds more professional/appropriate, but "Like" is more known for facebook. People are creatures of habit, and since like is seen more than recommend around the web they are probably more likely to do it because of the familiarity of it. Again, this is all based on what I've seen and what I assume is happening. I've got no hard facts to back this up.
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09-22-2010, 02:47 PM
In my opinion recommend sounds more professional/appropriate, but "Like" is more known for facebook. People are creatures of habit, and since like is seen more than recommend around the web they are probably more likely to do it because of the familiarity of it. Again, this is all based on what I've seen and what I assume is happening. I've got no hard facts to back this up.
Thankfully, I noticed yesterday that now, beside the recommend button is a tiny but easily recognizable Facebook icon - it actually stands out.
That at least tells me Facebook has worked on making the Recommend button more usable and recognizable. In the end they probably see it the way we do - being more professional in certain situations.
Let's hope so. It sounds like things have changed since we last were experimenting with it.