When “Like” Becomes the New Thank You

Admit it.  You’ve done it too.  Someone has responded to your post on Facebook and said something nice.  They contributed to the “conversation” in some thoughtful way or maybe they themselves initiated with a heartfelt “Happy Birthday!”

Your response… simply click the “Like” button.  In that one little action, all that needs to be said has been said.

“I’m acknowledging that I have seen and read your response.  It was nice.  Thank you.  I’m clicking this button to let you know that I appreciate what you’ve said but I’m too lazy to actually respond in kind.  What you’ve said warms my heart but not enough to elicit the effort required to give more than a digital thumbs up.”

All of that said in one little depression of my right index finger.  It’s amazing!  The brilliance of Mark Zuckerberg astounds me.

I’m sure there’s a time and place for the one-click “head-nod” but I wonder if we’re losing real “community” with all this.  We’re simply clicking.  Or maybe, we’re actually engaging more because we’re “connecting” with people we haven’t heard from in years.  We’re “meeting” people we don’t really know but who have enough mutual “friends” they must be “safe.”  I also wonder sometimes if I should use more, not less, quotation marks in one paragraph but that’s for another day.

For real though, I wish “Happy Birthday” to people all the time now and I love it.  It makes me feel good.  I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right.  If not for Facebook, I wouldn’t have even known it was their special day.  It’s not a card but hey, it’s something.  

And, if I’m in a particularly spiritual mood on that day, I may even toss up a prayer on their behalf.  Listen, I’m not talking about some cheap blanket prayer that covers them all either.  I’m talking about the real deal.  I’m actually mentioning their name.  That’s gotta count for something, right?

Seriously though, there’s nothing wrong with “Like” becoming the new thank you.  That’s part of the new social dance this technology is bringing.  Most people get that.  But I encourage you to do more than simply click.  Send something a little deeper and a little more heart-felt.  Something that takes a little more thought and a little more care.  Take a leap and move it beyond the digital.  Invite them to coffee or lunch and connect the good old fashioned way.

And, if you wandered here through Facebook, I expect you to “Like” this.  It’s the very least you can do.