Since the advent of Social Bookmarking, share buttons have reigned supreme and have made sharing content much easier. As Social Networks evolved so did their share buttons. Facebook is taking a new step in how sharing is defined by retiring its share button and replacing it with the new like feature.
Facebook has introduced a new update to its like button which changes how content creators and users interact. The first major update is how a liked story is shared: a thumbnail, title and blurb are posted to your stream and will be prominent to your friends. Comments and additional likes are now supported to encourage friends to discuss a story or piece of interesting content via Facebook.
How liked stories are displayed on your wall
The goal of Facebook’s improved like button is to promote content and make it more visible amongst friends. The addition of friends being able to like a story and comment it will give content publishers more reason to consider using Facebook if they want more conversations generated.
By redefining how the share button works, Facebook is hoping to increase exposure of great content and promote the social validation associated with someone in your network liking something. The share button will be supported by Facebook but the new like button will be the future of content sharing.
