At the Web 2.0 expo in New York today, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor announced that 2 million websites have added the “Like” button and Facebook’s other new social plug-ins, which were launched five months ago. Facebook also confirmed the stat in a Tweet.
That’s impressive considering the number was 50,000 only five months ago. Facebook’s new social plugins,which include a ‘Like’ button for the web and an array of other widgets, were launched at f8 in April.
Aside from the Like Button, Facebook’s other social plugins include an activity feed that displays your friends’ activity, a widget with recommended articles, and the Facepile, which shows you photos of your friends who also use the site you’re browsing. And Facebook recently revealed a slimmer, sleeker Like button.
In a note posted today, Facebook says that some of the publishers using the new plugins are seeing increases in traffic after embedding the new social plugins. For example, ABC News saw a 190% jump and Gawker saw a 200% increase in traffic. Publishers also reported increased engagement on their sires. For example, NHL.com reports that visitors are reading 92% more articles, spending 85% more time on-site, viewing 86% more videos, and generating 36% more visits.
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks. The original...
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