Google News Updates

Facebook, which popularized the concept of shared content for its social network, is expected to unveil a "Like" button publishers can embed on their Web sites to let users share content with their Facebook friends.















The New York Times reported that Facebook at its F8 developer's meeting April 21 will introduce a Like button that will allow the company to keep tabs on what a user linked to. Users can click the key to share favorite Websites, which will give Facebook more info on what users are interested in.

Facebook will share that information with Web publishers, which will put in front of visitors links, photos and other content that their friends like from Facebook. If that sounds confusing, imagine of this Like button as one big recommendation engine for the Web.

Facebook fuels the Like button with its social chart on the back end; Website publishers are the vehicles to promote sharing for Facebook's excess of 400 million-plus users.


This effort, which follows up the Facebook Connect tune to let users connect to third-party Websites with their Facebook user names and passwords, is a play to assist Facebook extend its tendrils as the premier social connective tissue for the Web.

One imagines social advertising will play a main role here, but we must wait until F8 Wednesday to find out whether this is so and how Facebook envisions it will work.

Facebook's effort is being preempted by a group of companies goal on not letting Facebook introduce the Web with its members-only approach to the social graph. Meebo April 19 launched XAuth, a platform for automating the method users share content on social networks, with partners Google, MySpace, Microsoft, Yahoo and others. While Facebook is paying attention on helping its users share info within the Facebook social graph, the group supporting XAuth wants to let Website visitors share facts with Facebook and myriad other social sites.

Meebo's effort is also likely a reaction to the now oldish gossip that Facebook is also planning to release a Meebo-like toolbar for Websites to put at the bottom of their Web pages. This toolbar, according to the Times story, will construct on Facebook Connect to help more users log in to participating Websites.