• July 8, 2009

Facebook has released a new widget that lets brands share status updates from their Facebook page on outside Web sites. By adding the "Fan Box" widget to their own sites, marketers will be able to import content from Facebook pages to help convert visitors into Facebook fans. That in turn could drive more traffic to the social networking site.

"The same public figures and organizations you're connected with on Facebook can now install a Facebook Fan Box on their own Web sites which shows the most recent updates that are also going into your News Feed," explained Facebook Product Manager Mark Kinsey, in a blog post. "If you're not yet connected to their Facebook Page, you can become a fan directly from their Facebook Fan Box and begin receiving updates on Facebook as well."

Among the brands and personalities that are adding the Fan Box to their sites already are Lance Armstrong (Livestrong), Lenny Kravitz, Coca-Cola and Newsweek. Sites can add the widget with a snippet of JavaScript code.

--Mark Walsh