14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is introducing a new button after the ubiquitous Like which it hopes will be just as popular and which fills a certain need that wasn't quite covered. The new Send button enables you to share content with a select number of people, Facebook friends, groups or with any email address.
Ideally, the Send button will sit alongside the Like button, though it's probably not going to be as used, not only because of the more limited appeal but also because websites are getting rather crowded as it is.
"The Send button is a social plugin that websites can use to let people send a link to a friend through Facebook Messages, post it to a Group, or email it to an individual," Abe Parvand, a Facebook engineer working on the platform, announced.
"For example, if you see a Mother's Day gift idea on 1-800-Flowers.com, you can now send a message or email to your family members to discuss," he listed one usage example.
"Or say you're training for a marathon and you come across a great article about running shoes on The Huffington Post. Now you can share it with your entire running group in just one click," he added.
The Send button is already live on 50 websites, Facebook boasts, but it is available to any developer wanting to integrate it, there are instructions in the Facebook Developers blog post above.
If you hit the Send button, a popup similar to the Facebook messages one will be displayed, enabling you fill in the recipients as well as a short message. It also features name suggestions to make it easier to fill out the names of your friends or groups.
There is definitely a need for a simple way of sharing with only a select number of friends. And, since you can also use to email friends, websites can replace any 'share via email' buttons they may have. It's unlikely the Send button will be as popular as the widespread Like, but it should be popping up on plenty of websites soon.