Facebook Ends “Like-Gating”
"Likes" have been an important currency on Facebook, a way for users to opt in to receiving updates and for marketers to estimate a page's reach.
Over time, it became a common practice for pages to offer incentives for users to Like a page, such as contests, coupons, discounts, and deals. The practice even earned its own distinctive name: "Like-Gating."
A recent post on Facebook's Developer's blog, however, marked the end of "Like-Gating." The post noted some upcoming changes to Facebook's Platform Policies, slated to go into effect by November 5, 2014. Here's how Facebook's Developer's blog described the change:
You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, checkin at a place or enter a promotion on your app's Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.
Want to prepare for the Platform Policy change before November 5? We suggest adjusting your contests and sweepstakes to request rather than require a Like. You can also continue to encourage people to Like your page by highlighting benefits like receiving service notices, finding out about upcoming events, and learning about future contests.
4 Walls will continue to manage sweepstakes for our qualified Respage clients, and we're adjusting our app and systems to meet the new Facebook Platform Policies.
You can read more about Facebook Platform Policy changes related to "Like-Gating" at the following sites:
Graph API v2.1 and updated iOS and Android SDKs [Facebook Developer's blog]
No More Facebook Like-Gating [jonloomer.com]
Facebook Bans Like-Gating [reshiftmedia.com]