It’s (more or less) official. Facebook is ditching “fan” in favor of “like.” Annie Ta, a spokesperson for Facebook, which is based in Palo Alto, California, said, via email, that the words on the button would be changed from “fan” to “like.”

Ms. Ta didn’t provide specifics, such as whether “Like” would replace “Fan” in other places on Facebook. She said, “We’re still working on some of the details, but brand Pages can still be referred to as ‘Fan’ Pages after the change.”

In the email that was sent to advertising agencies for the purpose of giving them advance notice about the upcoming change in Facebook, Ms. Ta wrote, “Over time, as users adapt to the language change, we recommend that you invite people to connect to your Page by saying ‘Find us on Facebook’ or ‘Like us on Facebook.’ You may also choose to put more emphasis on your custom URL than you used to.”

For more information see this news release on the ABC News website.

One contributor put it best when he said, “So instead of Facebook fans, marketers will have Facebook “liker”? That’s not even a word. Once more Facebook shows complete ineptitude …” Obviously everybody isn’t thrilled with the change!

There’s no way to know for certain what the impact will be on affiliate marketers. It’s really too bad that Facebook thought giving “advance notice” to ad agencies was a better idea than telling all advertisers at the same time.

Anyway, now you know what’s coming — sort of.