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This is maybe a question that has been asked a lot of times, but after searching I can't find the answer I'm looking for so I thought I'd ask :)

I am setting up an eCommerce shop with different products and am thinking of adding either a Facebook LIKE or a SHARE button. I can't quite understand the difference between them and how they will affect the relation of the visitors with the website.

From what I understand from other posts, the SHARE button will make a one-time post on the timeline of the visitor, shown to all his friends, while the LIKE button will create a "relationship" between the visitor and my website. From what I understand and from my own experiences, a LIKE of a product on my website by a visitor will NOT show up on the Facebook wall to my friends.

So what is the actual benefit over a SHARE of this? If someone clicks a LIKE of a product, will they automatically become a follower of my entire Facebook page (linked in the HTML through the Facebook page ID) as well? Or will they only be a follower of that post.

I read somewhere that a LIKE of any page on my eCommerce website will make the visitor receive updates that I then post on my Facebook page, but I don't know if that's correct or not.

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‘Liking’ something is easier for users than ‘Sharing’ it, mainly because casual Internet surfers don’t like to be burdened by the text box. But, sharing accompanied by a positive comment could potentially add more value to the webpage.

Source: http://www.829llc.com/facebook-like-vs-facebook-share/

So 'liking' is a passive action, and 'sharing' is a more pro-active action - through the result of 'really liking it and evokes a feeling of "people must know about this". Plus share will ultimately have more clout than a like.

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  • Understood, so basically a "LIKE" is pretty much worthless other than it adds to the count of likes ...for example this item has "20 likes", etc. Because I read somewhere that LIKES don't show up on the timeline and to friends anymore, only SHARE do. If someone clicks "like", are they automatically subscribed for updates from my Facebook page or not? Thank you very much :) – user1227914 Jul 25 '14 at 19:17
  • I'm not entirely sure on the algorithm facebook uses, but I notice when there is a lull in friend activity that 'joe bloggs like ....' appears more often, so perhaps they are noted but priority level is much further down than the share. – IronBasset Jul 26 '14 at 18:51
  • Like means that you have an interest in something, while share is an action that lets your friends/social network see the item in question. For example, it is likely that I will "like" a new Assassin's Creed game, but I might "share" a recipe. As this answer states, like is a passive thing, to indicate satisfaction, desire, or something of interest, while sharing is an act of intentionally letting people know about something. In fact, they're mutually exclusive. A post about a serial murderer isn't something I'd like, but people should know about it via sharing. – phyrfox Jul 27 '14 at 7:12
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Because they both have separate values, depending on what your bottom line is (like having your content appear more often on a reader's feed vs. a reader spreading your content to their own networks) some people have added both. As far as clutter goes, there are ways to do this so that it isn't a complete mess. Withstanding other things, huffpo is a good example.

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