After copying Tumblr’s reblog feature earlier, it looks as if Automattic (the company behind WordPress) is copying yet another feature from the microblogging service.
Starting today you’ll notice a new feature at the bottom of all WordPress.com blog posts. We’ve enabled a “Like” button, which, when clicked, shows a Gravatar image for all the bloggers who like a post.
When you “like” a post two core things happen. First, the blog post’s author sees your “like” and can click-through to your Gravatar profile. Second, clicking “like” saves the post in your homepage dashboard (in the “Posts I Like” section), so you can share it with others, or just keep it around for future reference. (Official WordPress Blog)
Currently the only difference between WordPress’s like feature and Tumblr’s is the fact that the former uses a star as an icon while the latter uses a heart symbol.
While the like feature does make WordPress much more social, it does make one wonder whether Automattic and Tumblr are stealing each other’s ideas (as the latter copied Automattic’s mass post editing feature in June).
Thus far this feature is only available to WP.com users, although self hosting WordPress fans can mimic the “like” feature by using the Facebook like button.
