Today at Facebook’s f8 conference in San Francisco, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made what seemed like a bold prediction. Only he didn’t think it was that bold. According to Zuckerberg, there will be over 1 billion likes across the web in the just first 24 hours of the “Like” button. It launches today.
Zuckerberg can say this because there are already some 30 huge partners Facebook is launching these new features with. And I do mean huge. Huge as in CNN, ESPN, and IMDb, among others. Each of these sites will have Facebook buttons implemented and working today.
The Like button works exactly like it does on Facebook (and other sites like FriendFeed): it allows users to show their approval of any piece of content on these sites with one click. You can also include a little note saying why you like the item (see screenshot below). We wrote about its impending launch a few weeks ago. These likes are then transported back to Facebook and integrated into users’ profiles. Notably, if you like a movie on IMDb, it will be pushed into your favorite movies area on your Facebook profile.
Earlier in the presentation, Platform Lead Bret Taylor rattled off another huge stat: Facebook users are sharing over 25 billion things a month currently. With the new Like button (and the other new social plugins, not to mention the Open Graph itself), and Facebook’s new partners, expect this number to surge. I mean, if Facebook is going to serve up 1 billion likes just today, they’ll be on pace for a least 30 billion shares this month, not counting any other method of sharing on the site.
