Its a web revolution!
The Facebook developers have announced the site's next step in evolving a connections-based web by introducing three new tools to be made available to all websites at the third F8 conference in San Fransico.
The first of these tools are the social plugins, which will offer users an easy and comprehensive way to share the topics and content that interest them. Using a ‘Like' button, website owners can work with other Facebook plugins to personalize their websites and drive more traffic to them by becoming targets for users with similar interests.
Other social plugins include an Activity Feed button that shows users what their friends have liked about a site, and a Recommendations plugin that allows users to give feedback on a website and suggest what they'd like to see. Finally, the Facepile plugin will show profile pictures of the user's friends already signed to the site.
All of these plugins are designed to be simple, using a single line of HTML, or XFBML tags if you choose to use Facebooks new and opened-sourced JavaScript SDK.
The Open Graph Protocol, which will integrate websites with Facebook, was the main theme of the conference, and will be the most influential of the tools rolled out by the popular social networking site.
This will allow participating websites to become objects that Facebook users can add to their profiles through the ‘Like' button. Not only will this give the site a link on the users profile page, but will allow the site to publish on the user's news feed and will be included in Facebook searches.
The end result is higher traffic to your site and much greater exposure across the web, which only increases as more users create connections to your site. However, all these benefits rely solely on, and contribute to, the continuing success of Facebook, and no mention was made at the conference or in any press release regarding the immediate or possible future costs to websites for the use of these tools and services.
The last innovation introduced was the Graph API, designed to be a simplified way for developers to use the Facebook Platform. Using URLs, all objects and APIs can be accessed and an overall representation of data in the graph can be easily reviewed, all of which will be updated in real-time.
Facebook also announced special partnerships with Microsoft, Pandora, and Yelp aimed at build experiences where people can seamlessly transition between Facebook and other services.
