The pace of the social media is fast, really fast. Explosive growth, astronomical valuations, ground breaking technologies, and crushing defeats occur on an everyday basis on the social web. However some recent updates from Facebook have us perking up our ears. The changes Facebook has just made, as well as those announced for future implementation, are all designed to create a more vibrant, open, and social web. It all comes down to one word: Like.

Kevin ArtFire likes ArtFire.

John Q. Public likes Starbucks.

Jane Doe likes ESPN.

The new “Like” functionality being rolled out by Facebook allows you to make connections with the things you like no matter where you are on the web. With simple and lean code, we have now placed a “like” button on the ArtFire front page. Even if you aren’t logged into ArtFire, if you are logged into Facebook in their browser, this like button will be able to deliver a personalized message which lets you know which one of your friends like the page.

Going forward, we are looking at implementing several of Facebook’s new social plugins to make it as easy as possible to connect with the things you like. We anticipate that these kinds of social connections will quickly become as important to how people find things online in the future as a link in the realm of SEO is today. Keep an eye out for “Like” buttons everywhere!