We heard rumors that Facebook is developing a “Like” button for content created all across the web, but today, the suspicions were confirmed. At Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference today, CEO Mark Zuckerburg made several announcements regarding the new Open Graph API and a new social plugin.
Want to preview the “Like” button that will soon be sweeping the web? Head to IMDB or CNN.
On IMDB, each movie’s page now includes a “Like” button and lists the number of connections the movie has already acquired. CNN articles include a button that says “Recommend.” In either case, when I select the button, my image and name appear on the page.
The action also creates a story on my Facebook News Feed linking back to the movie or article.
My Facebook friends can visit the movie page or article and see my name and picture, which link back to my Facebook profile. If someone who isn’t my friend visits the page or article, they cannot see my connection, only that “73 people like this.” Additionally, the “Like” or “Recommend” buttons are only available when a user is signed in to Facebook. Otherwise, clicking them launches a pop-up asking for your Facebook log in information.
It’s a simple and lightweight action to “Like” or “Recommend” anything across the web – just as Facebook intended it to be – but the privacy concerns that the new API generates may not be so casual as your Facebook information is shared across the rest of the web.
See other announcements from F8 on Mashable.
