Facebook launches “Like” button for websites

Facebook is launching a new “Like” button that publishers will be able to put on their websites, allowing users to share content from around the web.

Expected to be unveiled on Wednesday at the Facebook F8 conference in San Francisco, when clicked on the new button will send a site link to the user’s Facebook stream.

According to reports, Facebook will keep a record of what sites users click on using the Like button, giving it data that it could then share with web publishers, for example, letting them now how many of their pages a user has recommended to friends.

The new button will also replace the “Become a fan” pages, with users now pressing the Like button on pages including those for bands and celebrities.

A spokesman said: “We’ve found that “like” is more global, easy to understand, and users are already comfortable and familiar with it – making the process of connecting with a page more consistent with how they already interact with things on Facebook.”

Twitter recently launched @Anywhere, letting publishers add a function to their sites where Twitter users can access their accounts and Tweet without logging on to the main site.