Reports began popping up today that Facebook is about to change the “Become a Fan” button on Fan pages to the popular “Like” button.

‘Fan Pages’ are free pages generally used by businesses and brands who want to create a social media presence. Currently, a Facebook user clicks ‘Become a Fan’ when they want to follow the brand.  You can become a fan of McDonald’s or Britney Spears. Becoming a Fan of a brand or business is very similar to adding someone as a Friend on Facebook. The brand status updates begin to populate in your newsfeed, the brand has the option to send you messages, and depending on the specific fan page settings, you can post on the brand’s wall.  Fan pages that a user has ‘Become a Fan’ of are also displayed on their personal profile.

The ‘Like’ feature, however, is quite different. A user can ‘Like’ someone’s status, photos, wall posts, etc. It’s a simple way of giving approval or a thumbs-up. Depending on privacy settings it’s possible others can see items you ‘Like’ and you’ll be notified when someone else ‘Like[s]‘ or adds a comments to that item.

Understanding the difference between ‘Become a Fan’ and ‘Like’, it makes sense that Facebook is reporting users click ‘Like’ almost twice as much as they click ‘Become a Fan’. It’s much easier to ‘Like’ something. It’s quick and easy. After maybe another comment by a user, in a couple days that item you ‘Like[d]‘ has disappeared. Becoming a Fan is saying you want to stay updated. You want to regularly see more about this brand or business. These two items are not the same and should not be interchangeable. That’s why I feel this switch won’t be positive.

Changing the language is not going to cause users to ‘Become a Fan’ of more fan pages.  Users click ‘Like’ more often than ‘Become a Fan’ not because the word is more appealing, but because the act is simpler. There might be an increase in clicks at first, but once a user’s newsfeed is populated by more businesses and less friends, users will revert.