Facebook sharing features are live

Filed under: Audio, Video, Web services, Social Software

Facebook sharing features are live

by Jordan Running Oct 27th 2006

Those Facebook social bookmarking features we told you about the other day? Well, the wait wasn't long and it seems that they're available to everybody now, even little ol' me. Facebook, of course, isn't calling it social bookmarking, they're calling it "Sharing." There's now a "My Shares" link in the left-hand sidebar, and there's little "Share" buttons all over the site--next to photos, people's profiles, and items other people have shared. When you share an item you can choose to put it on your profile or share it with specific people, or both.

Facebook sharing 2

When you share something with another Facebook user, it shows up in their right sidebar, not in their News Feed, which will be a relief to those who were afraid of overzealous linkers (or those with dreams of "free" iPods) spamming things up. Like events, you can enter someone's e-mail address if they don't have a Facebook account, but they have to register for an account before they can see what you've shared. There is, naturally, a bookmarklet that you can use to share links from across the web, as well as MP3s and videos from YouTube and Google Video.

Overall, I think Facebook's new Sharing features are well-implemented and well-thought out. They don't get in the way, it's easy to control who you share with and easier still to manage items. I really wish MP3s had an embedded player like videos do, but you can't win 'em all. Look after the jump for a bunch of screenshots of it in action.

Your shared items appear on your Mini-Feed if you choose, and you can remove them later with the X button. Others can use the "Share" button to share them themselves. Unfortunately, no embedded player for MP3 files, unlike videos (below).

This is the pop-up that appears when you use the bookmarklet. Videos from YouTube and Google Video show a thumbnail. I like how it grabs the description from YouTube, too. On the right you can add Facebook users or email addresses to share with.

This is how a video shows up on your Mini-Feed. Clicking on the Play button...

...makes it expand to the full embedded player.

Clicking on the Share button on a photo shows this attractive dialog.

The My Shares page shows everything you've shared. You can remove items with the X button, which also deletes their associated comments, etc.

So far I haven't see any "Facebook Sharing is teh sux" or "OMG SHARING wut is this MySpace!!1?" groups pop up, but I suspect it's only a matter of time.

Tags: bookmarks, facebook, links, mp3, sharing, social networking, social software, SocialNetworking, SocialSoftware, video

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Larry Waldman said 9:27PM on 10-27-2006

Interesting to see how popular this is from a content sharing perspective, and what that says about the consumer market.

Sushil Verma said 5:44AM on 11-03-2006

this is good way to keep all link in one location and visible to users.

sushil verma

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