Facebook adds Web site 'Subscribe' button
New social plugin is essentially a "Follow" button, helping another way for Web sites to attract and connect with users.
Facebook has launched a "Subscribe" button for Web sites, allowing site visitors to get updates from journalists and other site contributors in their News Feeds.
The feature, which can be installed on any Web site, is essentially a "Follow" button for Facebook. Previously, users could "Like" or "Recommend" a single posts on sites.
The social plugin, which is already appearing on author pages on the WashingtonPost.com, The Huffington Post, Forbes.com, and Newsweek, offers another way for Web sites to attract and connect with users.
"The Subscribe button for websites works just like the button on Facebook; once clicked the user will begin seeing the public posts of the person they have subscribed to in his or her News Feed," Facebook developer Stoyan Stefanov said in the blog post today. "The subscribe action is also shared--allowing others to subscribe directly via the News Feed stories, and further increasing viral distribution."
Developers can add the new button to their sites using either XFBML or an iframe. The XFBML version allows publishers to display subscriber counts and subscriber profile images.