Facebook: The Like Button’s New Friend is the Send Button
Mashable reported that Facebook introduced its “Send” button on April 25, 2011 with the intention of replacing email to friends and ameliorating the functionality of Facebook groups. The “Send” button is very similar to Facebook’s “Like” button. By clicking on the “Send” button, one sees a pop-up window, permitting a Facebook user to send an article or page to any email address, friends, or groups. One has the options of adding a message, sending a page to friends’ inboxes, or posting it to a group wall. The intent of the “Send” button is to facilitate content sharing with friends and groups within Facebook, whilst also protecting privacy.
Read about the “Send” button on Facebook. One can also get a combined “Like and Send” button. Facebook Media reported that the “Send” button was introduced on 50 websites yesterday. More websites are likely to follow the trend and join up.
3 thoughts on “Facebook: The Like Button’s New Friend is the Send Button”
How is this different from “share” buttons we see?
Hello Michael:
You raise a good point. The answer may be a question of semantics. Ryan Singel, in his article “Facebook Begets ‘Send’ Button for Selective Sharing” (URL: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/facebook-send-button/ ) acknowledges that the “Share” button has been rechristened “Send” and sees it as a “more-targeted companion” to the “Like” button. Singel notes that the “Send” button is intended to work like a messaging system and for sharing information with smaller groups, friends and even those not on Facebook by email.
Nicholas Carlson of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article entitled “Because Normal People Don’t “Share,” Facebook Introduces The “Send” Button” (URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/04/26/businessinsider-because-normal-people-don't-share-facebook-introduces-the-send-button-2011-4.DTL )in which he acknowledges the similar characteristics of Facebook’s “Share” and “Send” buttons. Facebook seems to think that people see themselves as “sending” things rather than “sharing” them. It is fair to say that not everyone would see it that way.
Thank you for your reply.
John, I think that Ryan’s point about Facebook trying to create a lock-in makes the most amount of sense. Facebook could end up, still, being nothing more than the new Geo Cities, after the AOL takeover.
If you lost all your Facebook friends tomorrow, it would not be a big deal. (Losing all your friends would be a big deal.)