The fans are finally dead (and some free social media marketing advice for Facebook and Twitter)

Fans become people who likeOne small post before I call it a day.

The people at Facebook have done what they promised to do a while ago: when going to the Facebook page of my blog, I noticed that the traditional “x fans” has been replaced by “x people like this”.

I would have said “x people like this page”, to be that bit more precise. However, that’s a detail. I’m glad they finally got rid of the word fans.

Maybe many of you will find this stupid but to me, it matters. I never liked the word fans, and I explained why earlier in some posts. Being a fan of someone or something always brings to mind the image of a crowd cheering their favorite whatever (which reminds me that one day I’ll explain why I don’t like the word crowdsourcing either, I’m picky, I know, but words matter more than many can imagine).

The word fans expresses an inequality for me and that’s exactly what I don’t like (have to admit I don’t like celebrity stuff that much either, as my aunt used to say “we all have to go to the bathroom now and then”).

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