The 'like' factor

I have no idea what Mark Zuckerberg had in mind when he came up with the 'like' button on Facebook. From what I understand, there are two main reasons why he devised it. The first is probably just what the name suggests. If I really like a post or a pic, I can just 'like' it, a way of giving some positive feedback which is perfect. The second is that when I 'like' a page, I can get it's content posted to my wall which is also fine.

But there is more to this 'like' feature. I'd rather say, it helps me in more ways than it can ever imagine. Here they are :

• When someone comments on my post and I have no idea what to reply back, I just 'like' their comment. For instance, when I post a status and someone comments, "Hey! Even I did that!!", I have no idea what to reply back. I can't ask,"Wow.. you really did?" Now, that's being foolish. I can't do that. Well.. you might tell me that I needn't even reply back but then common! Some soul has taken a few seconds out of their 'precious' time that is being wasted on facebook to come and comment on my status. How can I just ignore that? Yea, I did not ignore it. I did read it but the folk who commented doesn't know that right? And so it's my way of telling you,"HEY! I JUST READ YOUR POST BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO REPLY BACK!"

• Then comes my birthday and I have my wall flooded with wishes. I know 99.99% of those who wished me never knew it was my birthday untill they saw the notification on the right hand top corner of their page. I have 521 friends in my friendlist on facebook. Even if just 50% of them logged into facebook that day(which is highly unlikely) and 50% of those decide to wish me, I will have to post a 'thank you' to 130 people on a single day! (spare me if my calculations are wrong.) I am generally indolence personified and hence, you can't expect me to reply to all of them and the 'like' button comes in handy. In this case, I do know what to reply but I am just work-shy! (work? Not exactly, but I like that word and so just found an opportunity to use it.)

• It is super useful when on chat, especially when on group chat.

          For instance,

          X : blah blah..

          Y: crap crap :P

         (and now I was thinking in similar terms as Y and so..)

         Me: ^^like like

         Simple! Who doesn't understand the language of fb now? :D

• And now, my favorite use of 'like'. When the thread is just trying to stay alive and when the frequency of PJs being posted are reaching an insurmountable peak, I 'like' the last posted comment. By doing that, I am just trying to send out a message which reads, "I AM NO LONGER INTERESTED IN REPLYING BACK AND THENCE, WE DESPERATELY NEED TO CLOSE THIS THREAD RIGHT NOW! STOP SPAMMING MY WALL!!."

A note to Mr. Zuckerberg :

"You've made life on facebook a lot easier by giving us this 'like' feature! So, THANK YOU! And here's a request. Sometimes we actually like a post and this 'like' feature seems too small to be used then because we use it for every other purpose than what it was initially designed for and we end up wishing for a 'superlke' option. And hence, a 'superlike' feature will be deeply appreciated. And yea, if you can just add the 'dislike' feature as well.. only if you can... ok?? "

Oh yea.. these are 4 ways in which I use the 'like' feature! So, every time I like your comment/post, remember that I might not be appreciating the creativity in your comment or the beauty of the language being used. I might have not even 'liked' it in literal terms!! I might have just tried to play a peek-a-boo. I know, I know.. I am being so mean and cheap. But hey, I haven't written anything new here. You use it for the same purpose as well. Oh maybe, for even better purposes?!?!

So, what are the other instances when you use the 'like' button?

P.S : If you've read this post and are about to press the 'like' button, I might just know what you are thinking :P