Martin Reeves

"Like: The Button That Changed the World" provides a captivating and well-researched look into the history and impact of the Like button on our digital culture. The authors explore a range of complex ideas (for example, how the button’s effect on instant gratification influences our social affirmation through brain chemistry), in a way that’s both accessible and engaging and making the book approachable for a broader audience. They strike a solid balance between intellectual depth and show more reliability, taking the time to address both the positive and negative consequences of the Like button, from its role in data tracking to its contribution to algorithmic manipulation.

While the book’s structure can feel uneven at times, with certain chapters more focused and compelling than others, the overall research is rich and fresh. The authors excel at transforming the seemingly simple Like button into a fascinating case study of our digital age, offering new perspectives and encouraging readers to think critically about its role in shaping modern life. Despite a few tangents and the omission of the Like button’s broader impact across the internet, the book remains a thought-provoking and engaging read, packed with fresh insights that make it well worth the time for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and culture. show less

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Like: The Button That Changed the World by Martin Reeves and Bob Goodson is exactly what it sounds like, a whole book about the “Like” button and its affects on society, Internet commerce, and profiling users.

This isn’t a technology book per se, actually it’s not a technology book at all. The book is mainly about consumerism, marketing, psychology, and business.

I always knew that the “Like” button was more show more intelligent that it seemed. Not just measuring what one is interested in but also collecting many other analytics. In one of the technology books I’ve read, a whole section was dedicated to it.

The authors, smartly, stayed away from technical/business/medical jargon which makes the book easy to read and understand. The parts I found most fascinating were the ones involving the human psyche as to why this small button had such an immense impact on individuals, and society at large.

The one thing which I think the authors missed was Facebook’s feature to include the like button on external websites which really honed their algorithm and marketing prowess. I always thought that this aspect was a significant change, for the time, and would have liked to see the authors’ viewpoints on it.

Some of the book seemed like a filler, the history of the “thumb up” through the ages was interesting, but I felt it was irrelevant until to the subject. At least until we got to the modem age with an honorable mention to Siskel and Ebert for their “thumbs up/thumbs down” schtick and how it took hold on pop-culture since.

The end of Like by Martin Reeves and Bob Goodson tries to predict what the future holds to the technology which makes us feel good, but also innocuously collects large swaths of information. Like every technology it’s both a blessing and a curse, and will most likely be used to the worst thing imaginable, or one we can’t imagine, while enhancing our lives at the same time. show less

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Like is a great read for anyone even slightly curious about the history and impact of social media.

Part history book, part psychological deep dive, it explores the influence of the Like button in a way that's both thought-provoking and approachable.

The book is really well researched and well written. It breaks down complex ideas in a way that’s easy to digest for anyone, while still offering fresh insights for those of us who work show more in tech. As someone in the industry, I found it especially fun to revisit the history of some of the most well-known startups and see how the Like button played a role in shaping them.

I also really enjoyed the chapters that focused on psychology and biology. They gave fascinating context to why the Like button feels so addicting—and answered questions I’ve had about the behavior it triggers in all of us.

If you’re into tech, psychology, or just want to better understand the tiny button that changed the internet, Like is absolutely worth a read. show less

Reeves and Goodson provide an intriguing history and impact of the ubiquitous "like" button and, in the process, present a backdoor history of social media. Their investigation does not delve deep into the effects of social media on society, though they do touch on them. Rather, this is a cultural history of a small innovation that had ripple-effects throughout the internet and the way we interact with one another. Each chapter discusses different aspects of how the "like" button came into show more existence and how it affected different aspects of society and economy. Taken together they may feel disjointed, but each chapter, whether it's on how innovations happen or why the thumbs up symbol, is interesting on their own. This is, by no means, a scholarly book, nor is it necessarily instructive for entrepreneurs looking for the "next big thing." It is, however, an interesting discussion of how a small development that is meant to solve a very specific problem is refined over time and can have an outsized and unexpected consequences. show less