Facebook borrows Twitter’s “follow” terminology to replace “subscribe”

Facebook defined “poke” for a new generation, but the social network can’t say the same about “subscribe.”

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The term “subscribe” apparently never caught on with members, so Facebook is dumping it in favor of something more universally recognizable: “follow.” Facebook is co-opting the word follow, made popular by Twitter’s open-ended relationships, and using to permanently stand in for subscribe.

“We found [follow] is a term that resonates better with people on the service. Nothing is changing about how the feature works,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Beginning today, the social network is switching out the terms across the site, which means everywhere you now see subscribe — on Timelines and Interest Lists — you’ll soon see follow, and subscribers will now be called followers. The gradual rollout will take a few weeks to reach all members.

Subscribe, if you recall, was introduced last September as Facebook’s first attempt at allowing relationships other than friendships. Members could click to subscribe to a person’s profile to follow that user’s public updates without having to be his or her approved friend. Subscribe, which is an opt-in feature for members, has proved to be a powerful tool for journalists and public personalities anxious to drum up a large following. The subscribe button is also a part of Facebook’s Interest Lists, the topic-themed collections of Pages and public figures curated by members.

But the word subscribe is not something Facebook members totally get — and understandably so. So more than a year later, the social network is changing the name of the feature to follow. You follow?

Facebook photo via Shutterstock