Last night Facebook announced a new feature for users who share content on the social network. Now when you post content, your friends will be able to let you know if they like what you’re posting by simply clicking a button.
Friends have always had the option to comment on your posts, but this is just a more convenient way for your friends to give you a pat on the back for sharing whatever it is that you’re sharing with them.
It can also reduce clutter in your comments section. “Recently, I had a friend write a note about running her first marathon and another friend upload pictures of his new baby,” explains Leah Pearlman on the Facebook Blog. “In both cases, they ended up with over 30 comments, all saying: ‘Awesome!’ ‘Congrats!’ The aggregation of the sentiment “I like this” makes room in the comments section for longer accolades.”
On the flipside, if you are the friend, and are merely the viewer of the shared content, you can express your feelings about the content without having to take the time to leave a comment. Of course, it only works if your feelings are positive. Perhaps in the future they’ll add a “dislike” button.
The feature, which has been compared to a similar one on FriendFeed adds to the overall user experience of Facebook I think, and that is never a bad thing. This combined with the status API launch and the opening of access to developers of things like Facebook video and notes will likely take Facebook and its apps in some interesting new directions.
