Last week we published a video that Facebook had posted describing how to publish feed stories with Facebook Connect. Today one of our readers, Amin Issa, posted an interesting observation from the video: the addition of the word “Like” which was hyperlinked. This is appears to be a duplicate of FriendFeed’s popular “like” feature.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see the feature in action but my guess is that this was the site’s beta version. It’s interesting to see Facebook duplicating some of the features provided by FriendFeed as they strive to continue working toward becoming the largest site for sharing information. While you can’t currently share all of your information via FriendFeed, you’ll soon potentially be able to share more information via Facebook if Facebook Connect can obtain a large enough reach.
I previously wrote that Facebook could kill Twitter. Despite most people disagreeing with that argument, Facebook could most definitely duplicate many, if not all of the features currently provided by FriendFeed in a short amount of time. Many influential users of FriendFeed have also been critical of it as of late.
Facebook still has the 5,000 friend limit which would prevent top FriendFeed users from leaving the site anytime soon. Conversely Facebook could theoretically release a “feed only” type of relationship which would make it possible for non-friends to follow the activities of users. I doubt that will be happening anytime soon though. We’re not sure when Facebook will release the “Like” feature but it’s pretty clear that it’s something they are preparing to launch.
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I do not entirely agree that Fb could kill Twitter or Friendfeed but I feel they could kill MSN if they have a better chat.
Comment by Guillaume — January 11, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
Meh, it doesn't matter. Not too many people seem to be using these features anyhow. FriendFeed's audience seems to be more tech-savvy.
Also, Facebook is still a walled garden and you have no choice in that respect. FriendFeed at least gives you the option of making your feed private/public.
Facebook can duplicate all the features they want from other services, but if they can't get users to use them or users to switch from those other services, then it's kind of pointless for them to do that.
Comment by Rudolf Olah — January 11, 2009 @ 5:04 pm
This is inevitable. There is a new blueprint for the Social Web, and pioneers like Plaxo and FriendFeed are showing how you can turn the concept of social networking into webwide lifestream aggregation. Down that pathway, in-stream comments and likes are a natural featureset.
Comment by John McCrea — January 11, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
Why "Like" when you can "Share"? O_o
Comment by Mike Abundo — January 11, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
I notice this a while ago….
It looks kinda stupid. why wud u want to "Like" things that other people do that dont make much sense?
Comment by Zafarali Ahmed — January 12, 2009 @ 12:28 am
I've always used friendfeed to import my lifestream into FB but recently found a tool that does the same and is completely transparent
http://apps.facebook.com/feedport
Comment by Agrawl — January 12, 2009 @ 1:46 am
I'm not sure that Facebook could overtake Twitter – for me they serve different purposes. I don't think there's any crossover (yet) between my friends on facebook and my followers on Twitter.
The new features on facebook are definitely interesting though – becoming more and more integrated with offsite activity.
Comment by Lauren Fisher — January 12, 2009 @ 2:16 am
when is it going ot launch?
Comment by Oday Nasser — January 12, 2009 @ 8:51 am
For Facebook to really emulate twitter, they basically need to enable pages to post status updates. Then people can follow without giving up their privacy, and the 5000 friend limit is no longer an issue.
For those of us who don't use FriendFeed, what does the 'Like' feature do?
Comment by Eric Godfrey — January 12, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
Seems pretty similar to the the thumbs up/down feature they had a while back. It would be nice to see it again.
Comment by Justin Yost — January 12, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
Facebook is not going to kill Twitter. Ever.
Comment by Alexa — January 14, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
it's been launched already.
Comment by dave caceres — February 10, 2009 @ 8:04 pm