Facebook wants you to 'like' things ... but it's complicated | Mariam Cook

When will social networks stop forcing us to reduce all-important nuances to liking something or not?I don't really "like" you. The music that turns you on makes me want to fill my ears with fast-dry concrete, you have an infuriating knack of turning deep, interesting arguments into tussles over petty minutiae, and I daren't get close enough to stop you mid-flow, lest I accidentally breathe the air polluted by your rancid breath. But I should hear you. Your view on Thatcher's Britain would inform me, your inclination toward anarchism would open my eyes and your eye for modern art would send me in directions I would not have travelled otherwise.More and more websites allow us to "like" what we see, sending cheerful bits and bytes of approval between satellite and hub ? usually the omnipresent Facebook (although Wordpress have recently introduced this on their blog platform too). Why does this matter? Because people are fickle, opinionated creatures, and the social software we are increasingly using to organise our lives and learn about the world determines our options to express that.Cass Sunstein first popularised the idea of the "daily me" in 2001 ? warning that the web is moving us towards self-defined media that thinks like us, reflects what we already think, and effectively allows us to crawl further and further up our own arses (my metaphor). Social scientists have maintained this train of concern since: that we should be wary of silos ? a web of disconnected echo-chambers. As we build up our Facebook "friends", Twitter "followers" and all the pages we "like", are we coding ourselves into intellectual and social corners?The Facebook vice clamped around our online experience does the same, lulling us into a world where the easiest and most common reaction one can have to products, services, opinions and policies is public approval or uncomfortable silence.I hate Marmite, but I don't really need people to know that. I don't mind who else loves it, or why. But public sector cuts ? how do I feel about that? How can I access all the different sides of the debate without "liking" Diane Abbott, a few anonymous civil servants, a postman, various Milibands, and even the odd fascist? Truly "social" media is that which understands the fine and ever shifting line between vague interest, admiration, hate, desire and ambivalence (and in the case of ex-lovers, perhaps a combination of all of these). So when it comes to getting passionate about Nike trainers, the London congestion charge, the latest Karen Millen collection, sponsoring a Rwandan child, a footballer's latest transgression, it needs to take into account the complexity of our relationships with social objects, not force us to dumb down these all-important nuances.In the Guardian's comments, apgbud suggests that the restriction to "likes'" is a cynical ploy by Facebook to satisfy advertisers. But even following this commercial thread of thought, is it actually in the interests of brands to believe we all really, really like them? If that were the case, there wouldn't be so many tools claiming to measure "sentiment" from social data. These have been developed because smart 21st-century businesses view customer feedback and commentary as key to their future, not just a threat to their precious brands.Mark Zuckerberg has never claimed to be building a portal that can help all us "dumb fucks" achieve a future where what we want and know is less filtered by social straitjackets and abstract branding. But he will know that opinions, political issues, relationships, are not as simple as "like". I may well be interested, but not convinced. I may need to know more, but not for me; for someone else. A future where my response to an issue, politician, product or brand may only be to "like" it is problematic ? for society, for commerce, for the range of understanding and knowledge we have as individuals and societies. So can we have some more buttons please?? The headline and standfirst on this article were amended on Saturday 9 October 2010FacebookInternetSocial mediaSocial networkingMariam Cookguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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