Over the past few months, I've become more and more conscious about what I'm sharing in Google Reader, what I'm liking and commenting in Friendfeed, and what I post on Twitter. I try to think about what my followers would like just as much as what I like, but old habits from when people didn't follow me die hard. - Mark Trapp

I think of it as sharing, but I wish I could just mark an item so that I could look at it again later. With the tweets back on (and the work interruptions), it's getting hard to follow. - Ha3rvey

My friends will like what I like. :) - Morton Fox

Yeah - I'm conscious of it. There's times I personally like something that I've got a sense others won't care about. But I want to let the originator know that I liked it. My compass isn't always true. There are times I like or comment on something I think is uninteresting to others and a good discussion ends up following. Shows you how much I know. - Hutch Carpenter

i do "like" something to share it. it's pretty useful, i don't have to follow 100 people to see what they submit. i just follow some key players and once and awhile if they comment or like something I see it. if it wasn't for ha3rvey commenting on this i wouldn't have seen it. - Chris Harris

Given what the "like" feature really does, I've tended to use it more like a "share" button than anything. That's basically what it is. - lilbyrdie

Absolutely for "likes" not so much for comments. - Cyndy

Agreed, liking is flagging it as interesting which is bound to get your followers looking. With regards to GR if I like something but don't think it share worthy I'll just favourite it for my own reference. - Colin Walker

interesting point. I have found myself trying to be a little more discriminating in things that I publish to other sites knowing that they will show up here. It's not my primary consideration, but it definitely does cross my mind that something I fave in Flickr or digg on digg, for instance will show up here. - Thomas Hawk

I recognize that when I make a comment or "like" something, it has a chain reaction. It's very interesting to see how that simple step can greatly increase a item's visibility. - Louis Gray

I "like" things for bookmarking and to tell the world that I like it. The sort of people that I would like to follow me would be the sort that would also like it, though having a lot of different opinions stimulate debate, so it would be interesting to have one third of my followers not like the stuff that I like. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

I "like" something because it is interesting and I'd like to share it with the people subscribed to me. - acedanger via twhirl

All of the above. - Clay Newton

I "like" purely for the selfish reason that I actually like the post (a vote for it) or to bookmark it so I can remember it later. I haven't given much thought to whether that bothers my followers. Do we really want to have to take responsibility and effort of internal mental debate about whether our liking something might bother other people? Am I just rude for not really caring if someone else might like what I do (or not)? It's hard enough to please myself, much less all my followers. - Lindsay is :)

@Louis - especially when people hide things that don't have likes. With this selective viewing we ARE forcing things in to peoples streams - Colin Walker

Lindsay, I'd argue the follower/followed relationship is a social contract between two people: you do have an obligation to provide to your followers content that lives up to the reason you were followed. The consequence of neglecting that contract usually just means losing that follower, and you may not care about that, but then what's the point of interacting in social media? - Mark Trapp

Going to invoke the Lord Gary Vee as a supporting point: http://garyvaynerchuk.com/2008... - Mark Trapp

Good point Mark, but people follow you without your consent. They follow you because they liked your pattern of social interaction in the first place, but that doesn't mean you should be locked into a box or try to please them, unless your goal is simply to build a huge following. I think that's too much pressure to perform. I just want to participate in the conversation, not necessarily be an A-lister. But I'll give you that it's easier to converse when there are lots of listeners! - Lindsay is :)

Lindsay, I think there's a tacit buy-in to social networks that you are going to, in fact, be social in a few pre-defined ways; that you'll participate and share things that interest you, and that you'll follow and get followed by people that find you interesting. You don't have to strive to be a Robert Scoble or a Louis Gray, but to not want to interact on any level with your followers and the people you follow is the other opposite extreme. - Mark Trapp

I 'like' stuff just so it goes into the separate feed in Google Reader, from where I add it to delicious (when I remember)... - Andy Davies

I think at least some active thought about why people thought you to be interesting enough to follow is good for everyone involved. I dunno, maybe I'm just actively trying to avoid being that guy who makes his name in one field, then pulls the switcheroo to talking about my radical agenda involving vegan gun right to life ownership. People didn't follow me for that, and I ought to try to minimize that. - Mark Trapp

@ha3rvey: FF needs a "starred" feature like Google Reader. - CJ

@Mark - gimme some of that "vegan gun right to life ownership"! - Hutch Carpenter

@ha3rvey - you're basically describing a "Later" button (see basic implementation at http://ffapps.com/readlater/). There are many ways to introduce it on FF - from a simple "Archive" button to quick color-based flagging functionality (with out without 'Labels'). - Aviv

@CJ Kloote, @ha3rvey: You can get a list of your "likes" from your "me" tab though. - Morton Fox

Matt it's like WOMM'ing something. I think it's not under control. - Erhan Erdogan

I think at this point using the "Like" button as a simple personal bookmarking feature is okay and still maintainable, but there are certainly instances where you do want to keep tabs on a particular entry, but would prefer if it wasn't "made public" (ie. tracking competition, ego-bookmarks) - Aviv

There was another similar thread about needing something other than like a week or so back - http://friendfeed.com/e... - Andy Davies

@Mark, I never said I didn't want to interact with my followers. I said my goal is to participate in the conversation, which is definitely an interaction. I just don't want to have to change my habits or initial instincts about whether to bookmark or vote for something because someone started following me and it might displease them. The other extreme is polling followers to find out what they want from you. Then interaction becomes a job. This wouldn't be an issue if we had filters, but c'est la vie. - Lindsay is :)

On FriendFeed, we're all TV channels http://tinyurl.com/5ju9av - Hutch Carpenter

Although this has been beaten into the ground a bit, I think 'liking' something is a way of upping the visibility of the item without necessarily having something to add to it in the comments section. - Ryne Nelson

My dear god - what a conversation! THIS is why I like friendfeed. Right here. This level of talk does not happen on twitter, at least when I use it. Everyone is making valid points, would I be right in saying the general consensus is "whilst sharing items comes with some expectation of consideration for the audience, everyone can be forgiven for using it their own special way"? :-) - Matt Harwood