Soon, instead of becoming a fan of your brand on Facebook, I’ll simply get to like it. Goodbye to the heavy lifting that fanning entails — now I’ll make more connections with companies and organizations than ever before, because it will feel like a “lighter action.” The change creates consistency and simplification. Or so says Facebook.

Possibly. I guess it does reduce the number of verbs. But I liked the conceptual clarity of the way we were: We friended individuals. We fanned organizations. We liked things that happened.

Liking on Facebook has always been an action of-the-moment. It is an elegantly simple (and brilliant) way of participating in something ephemeral, akin to verbal conversation. Liking feels powerful because it is highly visible and selectively applied. I like things that divert me, or grab my attention — otherwise, I ignore. It’s an expression of who I am, but it’s no big commitment. My likes may be noted and appreciated, but they are soon carried away by the flow of time. And the never-ending stream of posts.

Friending or fanning is slightly more substantial. If I appreciate you — as an individual or as a brand — I consciously invoke a relationship with you. Becoming your friend or fan means I don’t mind hearing from you, and gives me a chance to get to the good stuff: liking or commenting on things you say. It doesn’t mean I like everything you say — just the things I deem relevant or worthy. We may be in a relationship, but we have our boundaries.

Going forward, one verb will have two very different valences. You have to be someone’s friend in order to like what they share. Liking something shared by a brand, on the other hand, consecrates your relationship with them? That doesn’t sound simpler to me. It sounds tricky.

For what it’s worth, I think copy folks will be sad about this, too. “Fan Us on Facebook” is a nice, strong-sounding call to action, with a lovely alliterative quality. “Like Us on Facebook” sounds insecure. Referring to “our fans” in copy is nice and concise.* Using the phrase “people who like us on Facebook,” as Facebook suggests, is an awkward mouthful by comparison.

Ah, well. I’m sure I’ll like it after a while.

*PS: Facebook practically owns the word fan, but they don’t seem to care! Note that in the example above, I did not feel the need to write “our Facebook fans” — the Facebook part is assumed. I myself will argue that when you need to describe “people who like your brand on Facebook” in one word, “fans” is still an excellent choice.