In designing our next generation Social CRM platform, I came across the rather innocuous decision of whether to mirror current social networking trends and allow customer to 'Like' site elements, or allow customers to negatively vote against an entity (such as a Knowledge Base article or Forum post).

In a B2C context, sites take great care not to offend anyone. "Like" has become a replacement for favorites or bookmarking, but one frequently observed comment I see on Facebook is "How do express that I don't Like this?". Presumably, Facebook is shielding the content producer from receiving a negative personal judgement by only allowing 'Like'.

However, should this rule apply in a B2B SCRM scenario? My thinking is that a 'voting' metaphor with a simple one-click "Yes" or "No" option is the simplest and most informative feedback feature for all parties.

If I'm pasting an error message into a sites search engine, and the first result I get back is exactly what I need, then the answer to "Was this article helpful?" is an obvious "Yes". But if the article does not address my immediate needs, and 'Like' is the only feedback option, then the Product Support Manager responsible for maintaining the online knowledge base only receives feedback when people 'like' an article (not that a stream of pure flattery wouldn't be ideal, but it's masking the core problem).

In keeping with rules of declarative configuration, it looks like the Social API will ultimately support 'Like', Yes/No, and 5 star rating as feedback options for any site element. The long-term challenge will be putting these options in the hands of KB publishers and allowing them to experiment and ultimately learn from community feedback.