As the web speculated a few weeks ago, including an article from yours truly, Facebook announced at f8 in San Francisco that it will be launching a universal “Like” button. The objective of the “Like” button is to give FB users the ability to share their favorite content across the web with their social graphs. While there are a wealth of existing content tags and buttons which enable users to share media across websites, FB is endeavoring to leverage its massive user base to conquer the market.
As I wrote in a previous post, a Facebook “Like” button would serve to filter a greater amount of data to the social network. Users would effectively give Facebook greater insight into their online behavior outside its walls. The rise of the FB “Like” would further tilt the web toward Facebook.
During his keynote address, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went as far as predicting that there will be over 1 billion likes across the web in the first 24 hours of the “Like” button. That prediction alone illustrates how far-reaching of an impact FB thinks its “Like” tag will have. With major launch partners, including CNN, ESPN, and IMDB, supporting the initiative (with FB buttons working today), Zuckerberg’s prediction may be proven accurate.