Facebook Claims Success with Personalized Social Plugins
May 12, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke
In a Facebook blog posted on Tuesday, Facebook developer Justin Osofsky claimed the platform’s innovative personalized social plugins have proven to be an overwhelming success. The suite of development tools are part of the company’s now infamous social graph, which has been the subject of much discussion regarding the alleged reduction of personal privacy for users. Since the announcement of the updated tools, which include Facebook’s “Like” button for websites, millions of users have been logged in just to secure their own profiles.
Touting the suite of development tools as a “toolkit of social functionality,” Osofsky wrote that internet users are able to easily personalize and share their experiences, without any additional configuration or sharing of data. To this end, Facebook asserts that users are also able to easily see what their friends like, as well. The company was also quick to point out that, since the launch of Facebook Connect in 2008, website developers have leveraged the unique connection opportunities that Facebook provides.
According to Osofsky, over 250,000 websites have already integrated the Facebook API to transform previously static content into socially shareable content. With the kick-off of the social graph initiative, Facebook is now turning to more lightweight social plugins that are simple for developers to implement, in support of an enhanced user experience. Less than a month after the announcement, Facebook is already hailing the social plugins portion of the social graph as a success, based on the fact that more than 100,000 sites have successfully integrated them, as part of their native content.
What exactly are the social plugins to which Facebook refers? Offerings available thus far include the Like Button, Activity Feed, Recommendations, Like Box, Login with Faces, Facepile, Comments, and Live Stream. Available on the Facebook Developers page, developers and users, alike, can configure the look and feel of their plugins and immediately generate the required code. Returning to their own site, developers can generally implement the tools with a simple paste of the exported HTML code.
Highlighting the simplicity of the process, the blog points to high profile websites which have already recognized the potential of social networking integration and implemented the tools on their own sites. Included in the list of success stories is The Washington Post, ABC News, The Globe and Mail, IMDb.com, and NHL.com. According to Osofsky, The Washington Post’s Facebook traffic referral has increased by 290%. Similarly impressive is the 250% increase reported for Facebook referrals to ABC News.
Whether it is a trend that will not only sustain itself, but continue to grow remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, websites have come a long way since the cumbersome Javascript tricks, which allowed users to share articles and posts, via email. Though only a few years have past, the practice already seems archaic. As the social graph initiative continues to unfold, users can only have hope that the rapid expansion of Facebook and other social networking platforms can be tempered with a common sense approach that prevents their own privacy from being sacrificed in the process.
Source: After f8: Personalized Social Plugins Now on 100,000+ Sites
