Facebook has just released a new feature called “Share Links.”
This was announced on the Facebook Blog a few hours ago:
“Starting today, there are links to share on Facebook planted all across the Internet, from the articles at Time to the videos at Photobucket.
The idea is that when you’re reading or watching something that you think is cool, you don’t have to copy and paste the URL back into Facebook in order to share the link with your friends. Instead, with one click you get to check out a preview, choose how you want to share it, and then distribute it. You can share content with anyone, even people who aren’t on Facebook yet.”
As a result, Facebook users – our current and prospective students, as well as their parents now that the website is open to everybody – will be able to share web content by clicking on Facebook icons wherever they see them.
So, what are you waiting for to add the little blue icon to your admission, news and alum web pages?
(I’m actually wondering if it wouldn’t make sense to add it to all your website pages – although that might look like an endorsement for Facebook. So, I guess the jury is still out.)
The good news is that you don’t need to be a tech wiz to make this happens. Just grab the icon and the script from this page.
Obviously you need to read the Terms of Use before offering Facebook Share Links on your institution website. Once again, it all comes down to whether or not you are fine with the following excerpt:
By including a Share Link, Online Content Provider automatically grants, and represents and warrants that it has the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use the Share Service in order to link to, use, copy, publish, stream, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part), summarize, and distribute the content, links and other materials of any kind residing on any web pages on which Online Content Provider places the Share Link.
Considering the popularity of Facebook among our student target audiences, I think it’s a good idea to do it.
What do you think?
I haven’t seen anyone really using it yet. So far people are treating it as another stupid feature trotted out without adequate feedback. It looks fine but facebook is no del.icio.us –different crowds.
In general, I love it how students organise themselves more and more, joining multiple networks, creating new communities and the like. I’ve only just begun to notify my superiors of this, and am still a long way away from convincing them that it would be worth embarking on such a journey.
However, I am also aware that a trend like facebook dies as quickly as it gets born. I think putting up a little logo on each page of a tertiary institution would be a huge commitment that our governance unit would probably not really like. As you already pointed out, it might look almost as if the university had partnered up with Facebook, and is that the impression that you want to make? I could see myself putting the logo into our “Student community” section though…
I begin to wonder if there was a minimum set of social networks a higher ed provider should join, not to miss out. If yes, what would these networks be?
Thanks for your comments, Sam and Sardionerak.
Sam – I’m not sure I agree with you on this one. This is a pretty new feature, so it’s probably too early to say it’s worthless. And, actually more and more companies (BlueDot, Google, etc.) are trying to integrate this kind of web content sharing within a network of people.
Sardionerak – I don’t know how big Facebook is in Australia, but it has been going on for a while in North America. When close to 95% of an institution student population use a web service, I think we’re faced with a trend you can’t ignore. To answer your last question, you should have a look at http://www.collegewebeditor.com/you2.0, the post with my list of things to do to get ready for the new social Web.
Here again, please keep in mind that these recommendations were made with the US and Canada in mind. I’m not sure how things go down under.
Thank you Karine,
for some reason, the link you gave me doesn’t work, but I am really interested in the page you recommended: would you be able to track it down for me, please? Thank you!
Sorry for that, Sardionerak – I’ve fixed it.
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