What's not to like?

Everywhere we turn we are being asked to “follow” or “like” something on social media. We all understand that the more “likes” a site gets, the more “Google juice”—higher search ranking—it gets. Companies hope that higher search rankings will help them achieve business objectives. Our likes, follows, and other electronic activities allow profiles to be built on us by anyone from marketers to employers to government agencies.

In return for sharing information, our searches are optimized or we are given things. More importantly, we are given the opportunity to offer personal opinions on everything from politics to products.

Recently, language has appeared in the terms and condition statements of many websites—even service contracts—stipulating that any negative statements made by users or their associates, anywhere on the Internet, will incur monetary charges. What used to be “likes only, please” has become “likes only, or pay the price.”

Igor Stevanovic/iStock/Thinkstock

As net neutrality has declined, so too, it appears, has the right to free speech. Having paid for my “free speech” through erosion of my privacy, I now get to pay more to honestly say something negative about a product or service. What’s next, a sliding price scale based on how unkind my opinion is? What about web services that provide recommendations based on customer feedback? What will they do in a world of nothing but likes? I sense the edge of a slippery slope.

I recently came across an article in the British media in which a general-practitioner surgery facility requested that all comments be directed to the administrator and not be posted on social media. A sign to that effect was even displayed in the waiting room. I wonder how long it will be before that same language makes it onto the hospital’s consent form? And how long will it take for the practice to “cross the pond” to the United States and other countries?

Have we indeed come so far that we have to pay if we express a negative opinion about what is truly bad service or an inferior product? I have searched Facebook high and low. Can anyone tell me where that darn “unlike” button is?

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.