Ali Hashmi Alma Bahman

Kathryn Ferrara Ian Sawicki

Meena Thiruvengadam

To likegate or not to likegate?

"Media web sites can best use Facebook and other social media sites to increase their consumer audience and advertising revenue by 'like-gating certain content

or functionality."

Where did likegating come from?

● Interruption marketers became passé and out-of-date when the Internet came along.

● Enter permission marketing, in other words your lifelong advertising partner.

"By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message.

It allows marketers to tell their story calmly and succinctly, without fear of being interrupted ..."

- Seth Godin, Permission Marketing (1999)

A brief, brief history of liking

http://storify.com/iansawicki1/a-short

Verb: Likegating is the process of having consumers show preference to product or brand on Facebook in order to access to certain content. These likes, voluntarily selected personal preferences, are broadcast across user’s social networks.

What is likegating?

Hi … I’m Air France.

I likegate, but I won’t give you a free upgrade to my supercomfy business class.

But let’s stay “friends” OK?

Why likegating doesn’t work● Users don’t like being likegated.● Likegating is too Facebook-

centric.● It limits social media

opportunities.

Likes have become “simply a forced public display of an opt-in to a brand’s social news stream. It is not what it was first presumed to be; brand advocacy,” Morello Digital Marketing Communications.

● Sign-fetish (utility vs. image)

● Images always refer to a real world

● As simulacra, images precede the real

● Image: “the ultimate form of commodity reification of contemporary society”

● Superficial aspects of appearance

Image as Reality

● Once a person has liked your page, it is part of his/her identity.

● Brand = symbolic self identity

● Gaze of the invisible: I do not want others to know what I like

● Asch conformity: The Bandwagon Effect only works in certain situations

Self-image identity

● Liking is psychologically analogous to being tagged, watched

● Obesity/Anorexic products: I would rather visit the page without being tagged that I liked it.

Privacy

“Like Gating can be annoying for users” (TechCrunch)

“I have had this option up for a long time and have not seen the results from it, nor any of my conversion forms on Facebook.” (HubSpot Blog)

“New Yorker gains at least 16,000 ‘fans’ after posting Franzen essay to its Facebook page. Simon Owens …is skeptical about how much those new fans are worth, though. ‘I’d guess that these new fans would be worth a lot less than those who liked the page organically.’” (Poynter)

Anecdotal Evidence

● There is a mental barrier to overcome

● Time pressure and need for speed● Informational availability and

access● Conformity – I would only like it if

my peers liked it● Inertia: Why should I like it? what is

in there for me? ● Would only work if the user have no

other options (plethora of alternatives)

● Or gets something that he/she would not normally get (stimulus)

Like-gating only works in certain situations

● Network effect? (Rich get richer)

● Advertising revenue not contingent upon “like” number

● Pageviews could be tracked without the liking parameter (Facebook Insights, impressions, page views, negative feedback)

Advertising Dynamics

Better Business Bureaus investigates Coastal Contacts, Inc.

Nov. 8, 2011: The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus recommended Coastal Contacts discontinue its claims.

Better Business Bureaus investigates Coastal Contacts, Inc.

● “Like This Page! So you too can get your free pair of glasses!”

● “Save 70% and Get Fast, Free Shipping!”

● “Save over 70% on Contact Lenses.”● “Save Over 70% Off Weekly

Contacts.”● “Contact Lens Coupon – Save on

Brand-Name Lenses”● “Save 70% & Get Fast, Free

Shipping!”● “Contact Lens – Save Over 70% Off

Weekly Contacts● “Get Free Shipping on Your Order”

A Cautionary Tale from the BBB● Total number of “likes” on

conveys a general social endorsement

● NAD said a “like” can mean many things to consumers

● Determined Coastal Contacts, Inc. has social endorsement because actual consumers “liked” the page

● But, for the record, things would be different if “likers” didn't get the benefit of the offer, or if Costal Contacts used misleading or artificial means to inflate the number of Facebook “likes”

The Open Pages Alternative

"We look at each post as a way to increase engagement with our existing fans and provide content that will have our fans saying, 'I'd like to share that with my friends,’” said Gayle Weiswasser, vp of social media communications.

By following a philosophy of open pages, Discovery Communications increased likes by 500% year-over-year.

Likegating is about the brand, not the user

Facebook Fans: 25 million

Twitter followers: 1.4 million

**Feb. 2011

Likegating creates division among social media users. It is the virtual line in the sand between the likes and the like-nots. It alienates users who may have otherwise interacted with or shared your content. By avoiding likegating, Discovery has been able to reach an even wider audience.

Why Open Pages Works

People are more interested in interacting than liking

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