The New Yorker Asks for ‘Likes’ to View Content

Just how much do you enjoy the writing of Jonathan Franzen? The New Yorker is hoping its enough to “like” its Facebook page, because according to Mashable, that’s the only way you can view a new Franzen piece. A spokesperson for the magazine says the article is on its Facebook page because “We want to engage with people who want to engage on a deeper level.”

There are a couple problems with this. Forcing people to interact with your brand isn’t the best way to gain their engagement, and even if tons of people do like the page, does that actually lead to anything good? We’re not so sure.

FishbowlNY “likes” Nutella on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean we buy it more than a person who doesn’t “like” it does. We should add however, that if you don’t like – as in, enjoy – Nutella, you are probably sad all the time.

Hopefully this will be a one time thing for The New Yorker, because it just strikes us as odd and a bit cheesy.

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