Facebook’s ‘Like’ button is both verbal and visual Unspeak, with its thumbs-up signalling a one-note enthusiasm. The button could have been labelled ‘Interesting’ or ‘Important’; instead, ‘Like’ shrinks our possible judgments to a banal emotional positivity, which would often be horribly misplaced. When someone you know announces bad news on Facebook, do you really want to be ‘the first of your friends to Like this’?
Like button
Data Visualizations
Related Terms
Related Episode
