Fascinating. Thank you. So, if I liked your page, my friends would all see "Procrustus likes Zipper’s page. And perhaps they’d be curious and check you out. Forgive the Facebook 101 question, I don’t partake, but I do need to know the basics to be an American in the 21st Century.
Exactly. And, if you pay enough for advertising, an ad for your page might show up on the mobile newsfeed of the liker’s friends.
For instance, if I am on the mobile Facebook app, I’ll see the latest news item and then the next news item is an ad for Wal Mart and underneath it says “Your friend X likes Wal Mart!”
Friends’ likes also help create the data for the “recommendations” ad area on the desktop version of Facebook. Facebook will recommend pages for me to like based on not just what I like but what my friends like, similar to recommendations for people to become friends with.
Also, after a page gets a certain number of likes (I think it’s 100), the page manager can access free analytics information from Facebook. It’ll show them how many people are visiting their page, clicking links, organic vs viral sharing, etc. It’s really quite helpful.
I don’t understand this because it can actually be counterproductive.
When I go to a business’s page and I see that they have a ton of likes but no/few comments, I just roll my eyes and leave. I find this whole business of soliciting “false likes” quite shady.
The local businesses I support seem to have no trouble getting real customers to like them and engage with the company on their page. That draws me in, because I can tell they have a lot of loyal customers, so they must be doing something right.
Jesus Christ, what’s your problem? “Begging and harassing”? And actually, I’m assuming you do not run a business, because the first thing you should do is talk to your friends and ask for help, no matter what the business.
I have a friend from high school who makes fancy dog beds. I have no dog, so I will never “put my money where my mouth is” so to speak. But if I like a post on her business page, and it shows up to one of my friends, who then buys a dog bed, that’s supportive, right?
Some people use FB poorly, and don’t have the content there to drive interest. But that’s not harrassment, that’s a marketing issue.
Awesome. 
I think it’s very nice that you want to help your friends be successful, but just because I don’t want to participate in the same way doesn’t mean I’m heartless.
I dislike the marketing machine of Facebook, so I choose not to participate in it. I would no more like someone’s Facebook page to help increase some algorithmic likelihood that their advertising will hit a few more eyeballs than I would mass-forward their email spam or cold-call people for them.
I don’t want to see which brands my friends like.
Now, if a friend is starting a business, and I meet someone else who seems to need that service, I’m happy to pass along a recommendation. I can help people out while connecting on a personal level and not blindly clicking a button.
I’m also deeply suspicious of the claim that liking a page is actually helpful to the person requesting it. If it really is effortless, does it help? Why would anyone value Facebook recommendations if they’re just a measure of how many friends the page creator could convince to click a button?
If you can’t convince your friends to like you, you probably can’t do much of anything. That would be my take on a page with no likes.
You don’t run a business, do you?
The more likes a post gets, the more likely it is to pop up on a Newsfeed. The more it pops up, the better chance someone who needs the service will see it, and potentially buy something. This is particularly important for small businesses, as it is free advertising. I don’t care about ads for Target, but if it’s someone who’s doing something to make their life better and follow a dream, more power to them.
I bet you’re fun at parties…
I hate these too, but isn’t there a little X up in the corner that you can click to make it go away without answering the question? Every one of these I’ve ever seen has that–I’ve never actually answered a question.
They’re still annoying, I agree completely. But you don’t have to give them what they want.
How is that different from any other sort of advertising spam?
If I mass-emailed everyone when my friends had a new business venture, surely that would increase the chance that someone who needs the service would see it and potentially buy something, right?
If a friend starting a business asked you to do that, would you?
Don’t “friend” people on Facebook if you don’t know them outside of Facebook. Problem solved!
No, because that’s not what email is for. It’s what Facebook is, in part, for. They are different things with different functions. Mainly, Facebook isn’t private.
If I wear a t-shirt of my friend’s band, am I somehow “spamming” you if you see it? Same thing with a Facebook post about my friend’s new novel or whatever. These, by the way, are both real examples, not hypotheticals.
So now I am an idiot just because I don’t ‘like’ a facebook page? Wow. Really?
The PM message that I received, may I add, is a SCREENSHOT of the page that she asked me to like- yes, a screenshot, not even a link. Honestly I don’t even know if that acquaintance of mine owns that business page. So my answer is still no, I am not liking anything I have no knowledge of. Yes, I do only ‘like’ things I actually LIKE with reasons. Beat that.
I don’t quite understand where the distinction is coming from. For some people, email is a marketing channel. For some people, it’s for personal correspondence. For some, it’s for professional correspondence. There are probably other uses, too. I didn’t sign up for Facebook to see marketing. I signed up to keep track of my friends. Sure, I understand that Zuck needs to turn a profit, but that doesn’t mean I have any interest in participating in the process.
They are different things with different functions. Mainly, Facebook isn’t private.
I don’t object to anyone taking the time to personally recommend something, even on a site like Facebook.
But that’s not what this OP is about. This isn’t a satisfied customer posting “I had a burger at Jim’s Burger Stand and it was delicious”. This is Jim asking everyone he knows to go click “Like” on his Burger Stand page so his advertisements will have better reach. Wearing a band’s tshirt is fine. Asking a bunch of people to wear your band’s tshirt is annoying (and kind of desperate).
I feel like The Oatmeal addressed this pretty well. You wouldn’t blatantly ask your friends to say nice things about you to others in real life, and you shouldn’t do it on the internet, either.
Think of it as vouching for the person who is running the business. If you don’t think they would run a business well then don’t “like” the page. They probably won’t even notice if you don’t like it.
This really doesn’t matter and I’m only posting because I’m bored at work, but it’s less than 100: my musician page only has 80-something likes, and I can access all of that stuff. I dream about getting to 100 likes. 
huh, something else happens at 100. . . then something else at 500. Each “milestone” gets you more accessibility, but I can’t remember what all it is.
You’re an idiot.
I’ve been educated on quite a few cool local businesses and charities through like requests on FB. And here’s the thing…if I like it, then decide I don’t really like it, I just unlike it. No bigs.
When you get a like request, you can go to the page in question and check it out first. If you like what you see, like the page. If you don’t, don’t.
Dude, it’s not rocket science.