• Inside Facebook, Thursday, November 10, 2011 12:31 PM

Continuing to tweak its premium content strategy, Facebook is testing “Read” and “Listen” buttons on select users’ Ticker streams. “Some users are seeing an interface adjustment on Facebook’s Ticker that makes it easier to start consuming the media that you see your friends engaging with,” Inside Facebook reports. “News articles and songs in the Ticker now include buttons that allow you to start reading or listening when you click on them.”

First, a newspaper or music note icon appears to the right of the Ticker story. Then, if users mouse over those icons, the word “Read” or “Listen” appears. As IF explains, clicking on them takes users to the relevant article or song. “The buttons create a simpler way for users to quickly respond,” IF reasons. “That further generates activity in the Ticker, and could help these types of media gain new viral growth.”

The Ticker already highlights various actions from users’ friends, including “listening” to songs and “reading” articles. Meanwhile, as IF notes, “The Open Graph actions, available for third-party apps, builds on the news feed by sharing what users do in the background, not what they explicitly decide to share.”

Read the whole story at Inside Facebook »