The advertising and search worlds are salivating over the Facebook Like button, but do they like it too much?
When users "like" a hotel or travel website and share that preference with their Facebook friends, then that's a treasure trove of information for marketers, right?
This social graph of likes supposedly is powerful ammunition for advertisers who want to target consumers and remarket to them on travel websites and elsewhere across the Web.
But, along comes a bunch of companies who are incentivizing consumers to like their products and services.
Take a look at this promotion which was running on TripAdvisor's homepage, for example.
TripAdvisor states: "If you like TripAdvisor, then you'll love this. Save the Children. Like us, and we'll donate to Save the Children."
A worthy cause, no doubt.
When I checked, 43,000 people had liked TripAdvisor on Facebook.
But, doesn't this kind of promotion -- and others I've seen -- skew the results, and render all this liking unreliable?
Are people really liking TripAdvisor or do they like Save the Children?
Is liking TripAdvisor a great opportunity for a hotel advertiser or for a charity?
People may want to do everything they can to save starving children, but do they really like TripAdvisor?
And, if a hotel runs a similar promotion, can marketers be certain that consumers really like that hotel or were they influenced by an offer to get a free Rum and Coke at the pool bar.
Like also is finding its way into search.
And, the lines between search and social also are blurring.
Microsoft last week began integrating Facebook likes into Bing search results.
So, now, you'll see who liked this or that when you conduct a Bing search.
But, did your Facebook friends really like the products or services that show up in Bing search results, or did they have an ulterior motive to hit the like button?
Like it or not, that's the situation.