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iePlexus Social Media News Brief: April 23, 2010

Facebook Changes

The social in social media is about to become even more social. Facebook announced this week at their annual F2 Conference that they will reach out to sites around the world in order to bring the web together.

Most current Facebook users are familiar with the “Like” button, which usually shows they’re interested in a friend’s status updates, photos or links. Now the “Like,” or in some cases “Recommend,” button will appear on a number of sites including CNN.com, NYTimes.com, TimeMagazine.com and Pandora.com along with several others. 

If, for example, a user likes a video on CNN.com, they will be able to click the “Like” button to share the video with friends through their Facebook profile. After they have clicked “Like,” their Facebook profile picture will appear next to the “Like” button, giving their friends – who may also be browsing the site – a heads up of their recommendation. 

Facebook also announced they’re working on a new toolbar, which will allow users to talk with friends without physically being on logged in at Facebook.com. The new roll out has begun and will continue throughout the next several weeks.

YouTube Anniversary

Today commemorates the anniversary of the first video ever to be uploaded to the YouTube site back in 2005. The 19-second video titled “Me at the Zoo” features one of YouTube’s founders, Jawed Karim, at the San Diego Zoo. The video doesn’t look like much, but it certainly sparked a revolution; by July 2006, more than 65,000 videos were uploaded to the site every day. Today it’s estimated that there are more than 120 million videos on YouTube.