what is the facebook like button supposed to do?

Hi,

I apologise if this a misunderstanding of facebook rather than this module but I have installed this on my site but the facebook like button doesn't seem to do anything. I thought that if you liked something it would appear on your timeline or something like that but all it does is indicate on the web page that I have clicked like. What is the point of that?

Can someone explain what 'Liking' is supposed to do?