Around the Net

Publishers 'Like' Facebook

If begrudgingly, many of the Web's more powerful sites are increasingly playing by Facebooks rules, reports The Wall Street Journal. "Facebook Inc. is finding new kinds of websites to 'Like' ... But some of the sites are trying to figure out if the admiration is mutual." Since April, the top social network has been trying to convince sites to add a free "Like" button, which lets Web users show their interest in a page with one click and notify their Facebook friends about it.

As of July, 350,000 websites, most of them news, sports and publishing sites, had added what Facebook calls "social plug-ins" -- of which the "Like" button is the most prominent example. More recently, shopping sites have placed "Like" buttons on their pages, too, including those of eBay, Best Buy, and Gilt Groupe. "For e-commerce sites, adding a "Like" button lets shoppers quickly share a product or deal with their Facebook connections, potentially encouraging them to buy the product themselves," reports The Journal.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »

Next story loading loading..