Twitter adds one-click 'Follow' button to third parties

Twitter appears to be following Facebook's lead by adding a one-click "Follow" button for third-party Web sites.

The new button, which Twitter rolled out today, allows users to instantly follow a specific Twitter account without having to visit the microblogging site and search for the desired account. The new button joins the tweet button, which shares specific content with Twitter users' followers.

"For publishers and brands, adding the Follow button to your Web site and using Twitter to stay connected with your audience is a powerful combination," Twitter said in a statement announcing the new button. "People who follow your account are much more likely to retweet and engage with your tweets, and to repeatedly visit your Web site."

More than 50 Web sites have already added the "Follow" button, including AOL.com, IMDb, MarketWatch, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CBS Interactive, the publisher of CNET. (The new button appears at the bottom of this report, with the author's bio and contact information.)

Twitter has also launched a tool that makes configuring and adding the "Follow" button to sites quick and easy.

Facebook's "Like" feature performs a similar function on that social network, delivering all the content published by a third party to users' news feeds (as opposed to "liking" or "recommending" an individual link to share it with friends).

The announcement follows Twitter's revamp last week of "following" pages to allow users to see the latest tweets from users that an individual is following. Previously, when users clicked on an individual's following tab, they would see only the user names and biographical information of the people being followed.