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20 years of the internet’s ‘like’ button, and why Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg opposed it
The thumbs up gesture has long ruled the internet and has had a major impact on social media engagement – so who came up with it and why?
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The internet would not be the same without the “like” button, the thumbs-up icon that Facebook and other online services turned into digital catnip.
Like it or not, the button has served as a creative catalyst, a dopamine delivery system and an emotional battering ram.
It also became an international tourist attraction after Facebook plastered the symbol on a giant sign that stood outside its Silicon Valley headquarters until the company rebranded itself as Meta Platforms in 2021.
A new book, Like: The Button That Changed The World, delves into the convoluted story behind a symbol that has become both the manna and bane of a digitally driven society.
It is a tale that traces back to gladiator battles for survival during the Roman Empire before fast-forwarding to the early 21st century when technology trailblazers such as Yelp co-founder Russ Simmons, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, and Gmail inventor Paul Buchheit were experimenting with different ways of using the currency of recognition to prod people to post compelling content online for free.
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