Testimonial vs review
A review is unsolicited feedback left on a platform you do not control, alongside everyone else’s including the critical ones.
Facebook Recommendations
Facebook Recommendations are the replacement for Facebook star reviews, introduced in 2018.
Definition
Facebook Recommendations are the replacement for Facebook star reviews, introduced in 2018. Instead of a rating, someone answers yes or no to whether they recommend a business and writes why.
Pages still show a score derived from these, which is why the change went largely unnoticed.
What it looks like in practice
A page showing “93% recommend (based on 142 recommendations)” rather than “4.7 stars from 142 reviews”.
Why it matters
Recommendations have no star rating, which matters for anyone choosing a layout — a badge built around stars will look empty. They also come with the reviewer’s profile photo and name attached, which makes them visually stronger than anonymous text.
Related terms
Facebook Reviews widget · Testimonial vs review · Reviews grid.
The full reviews glossary defines every term used across this site.
Questions
Related terms
Google Place ID
The unique identifier Google assigns to a place. Find yours below.
Social proof
Social proof is the tendency to judge something by how other people have judged it.
User-generated content (UGC)
User-generated content is any content about a brand created by its customers rather than by the brand: reviews, photos, videos, comments, forum posts, social media mentions..