EduMusings

During the past few years, social media sites have encouraged participation by adding their site as another layer to the internet.  By this I mean, not only can I read the news on the New York Times website, but I can also share the article through Twitter, LinkedIn, Mixx, Digg, MySpace, Facebook and Yahoo! Buzz.  All this can be done without even leaving the Times website- a small panel in the margins of the page offer a one-click solution to sharing.  The Times isn’t alone- I can’t find one website that doesn’t allow for sharing- Slate offers huge icons at the bottom of their articles for sharing, Huffington Post provides a real time view of tweets relating to the article, andWashington Post offers sharing similar to the Times.  The point is to make sharing a seamless part of a user’s daily internet experience.

Facebook is about to add one more layer.  Right now, students can become fans of a brand, business or university by searching through Facebook or through a link which directs the user to the Facebook page.  When browsing through friend’s photos or status updates on Facebook a user can also click on the “like” button.  This doesn’t do much except record the user as “liking” the post.  Now, the two concepts- of being a fan and of liking are about to merge. 

Seeing that liking something was a less involved way to become a fan of something, Facebook will now allow brands to post a “like” button on their website.  This will pretty much be a shortcut to becoming a fan of that page- under a guise of a “like.”  Although Facebook changes are often met with hostility on the part of the users, I think this change will be well received by both organizations and consumers.  First, because it’s a non-intrusive change- unlike the recent changes to default privacy settings.  Second, because adding the ability to fan/like an organization directly though that company’s site is a natural progression from the “share” button. 

For schools, this will make it easier to acquire more users on their Facebook Fan pages and allow for easier content sharing.  The Examiner article, linked above, also notes that Facebook is now starting to tread on Google’s territory.  If websites are going to have to format their content to Facebook’s standards, they will no doubt start organizing that information in a meaningful way.