Social networking giant Facebook has added a share function to its “like” button that appears on third-party sites.
The change will mean that when you hit the Like button, a full story with a headline, blurb and thumbnail will be shown on a profile screen. Previously only a link would be shown to friends.
The change will undoubtedly mean publishers will be seeing more traffic to their websites as a result.
“The Like button lets a user share your content with friends on Facebook. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ News Feed with a link back to your website,” Facebook writes on its site.
The company has said it wants to use the “Like” button going forward, eventually favouring it over the “Share” button.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
