I was on a gmat club test that asked you to select the correct idiom.

The answer below is the third item. In this case internet and direct media channel are nouns so i thought like was acceptable. I am a native english speaker so the third one did "sound" the best but can someone clarify this rule? Thanks


Sponsors increasingly use the Internet like a direct media channel to customers.
Sponsors increasingly use the Internet to be a direct media channel to customers.
Sponsors increasingly use the Internet as a direct media channel to customers.