Weird facebook likes (part 1)

A selection of inappropriate facebook likes...

Thumbs up for weird facebook likes.

One of the things I find strange about facebook is the way that people will sometimes post a status update which is clearly bad news, and yet loads of their alleged friends will 'like' the post. Sometimes I can't help thinking, 'Eh? Why are you liking that? That's obviously bad news.'

I'm talking about statuses along the lines of, 'Just got sacked from my job.' ...6 people like this. That sort of thing. That one was just a made-up example but there are plenty of real facebook statuses which are clearly bad news and yet people still seem to click the 'like' button for some reason.

I've rounded up a few examples to highlight what I'm referring to, and to start things off here's a very straight forward example which perfectly illustrates how the 'like' button often gets misused.

1) "Was kind of hoping the world would end today. This has been the ****est year ever."

1 person likes this.

Er ... what!? Why is one person clicking the like button? What are they doing? There's nothing ambiguous about the status. It's clearly not a comment that you should like. What was that one person thinking? "You've had the worst year ever, you say? That's great news!"


Here's another example which surely is not something that you should be liking...

2) "43 countries, six continents and today I experience my first natural disaster. Work has been cancelled, hotel has power through only a generator, water is coming through little cracks and the wind is insane. Hurricane Sandy, I am over you!!!!!"

6 people like this.

See what I mean? Someone gets caught in Hurricane Sandy and 6 people 'like' it. To be fair, in this case maybe people are just using the like button as a way of showing support, but that's not what 'like' means. Surely a supportive comment would be more advisable than a 'like'.


This next example completely trumps the 1 like and 6 likes we've seen so far with an impressive 20 likes...

3) "Slipped in Eldon Square on some ice cream tonight. Tore my hamstring and bashed my head. I'll not be able to walk in the morning but all I'm worried about is the ******* in the CCTV control room getting 250 quid off You've Been Framed."

20 people like this.

On this occasion I raised the issue of inappropriate likes by leaving a comment:

"Bit harsh that 20 people have liked this status."

To which I received the reply:

"What can I say, Charles. My friends are *****."


Things get a bit more serious in this next example as it deals with a death...

Cordelia the goldfish pictured when she was still alive.

4) "R.I.P. Cordelia. Only lasted 24 hours. :("

2 people like this.

Just to clarify things, Cordelia was a goldfish, not a close relative or anything like that, but even so I don't really think that the death of a friend's pet is something that you should like. Admittedly Cordelia apparently only lasted 24 hours so presumably there wasn't time for a close bond of friendship to form with the goldfish, but a pet's death is still clearly not something for which the 'like' button is appropriate.


Finally, this last one was posted on a facebook page rather than as someone's status, but the likes are just as inappropriate. In case anyone doesn't know I come from Newcastle and I'm therefore a Newcastle United fan, and during our 2-2 draw with Everton earlier in the season the Newcastle United fan page posted:

5) "Newcastle totally outplayed by Everton in the first half."

3 people like this.

Why would three people like that? Bear in mind that it's a Newcastle United fan page so you would therefore assume that only Newcastle United fans follow the page, so why do three people like the fact that we were totally outplayed in the first half? From my own point of view, as a Newcastle fan I generally prefer us to outplay the opposition, rather than the other way around. That's how I generally approach the business of being a football supporter. But for some weird reason, these three fans 'liked' the fact that we were outplayed in the first half.

I would imagine that pretty much everyone on facebook has come across statuses like this before with inappropriate likes, so if anyone has any other examples then feel free to leave a comment.

You can find more weird facebook likes in the blog posts below:
Weird facebook likes (part 2)
Weird facebook likes (part 3)