Facebook just changed the game

I find it quite crazy that yesterday I was asking Facebook for some small changes to their Fan Page and then they go and drop something which will make the entire internet a Fan Page.

Imagine being able to ‘walk’ into any online store and ask your friend what they thought of a certain product on the fly?

Well now it is possible with Facebook’s new social buttons and tool bars. The power of sale through referral may have just gone through the roof. The power of social may have just gone through the roof!

Last night Facebook had their f8 Developers conference where they announced a whole bunch of new products which may change how we deal with the web.

The biggest announcement was a new button called the “Like” button. Working in a similar way to a Digg or Tweet button, the new Facebook button can be easily installed on your site with a simple line of HTML.

Once installed visitors simply press the Like button and that information is passed onto Facebook which then aggregates it into their news stream. When a friend of yours visits the same article they will see your face under the article saying that you liked it.

No longer is it just another number, you can now relate to who liked what you are reading or even purchasing.

With this information of what you like or recommend, Facebook can now get a greater understanding of who you are and what interests you. Advertisers must be licking their lips with this kind of targeted tracking.

They have also created a Facebook tool bar which installs onto the bottom of your webpage. This allows them to share a whole bunch of information about your site. To me the most powerful element of this bar is the chat bar. You can enter any site now, see who liked it and then, if they are online, you can ask them directly what they thought of the content or product you are reading or thinking of buying.

They have also created “Open Graph”, which effectively allows the developer to install Meta data into their site which allows them to give their Like button more depth. So if you own an online clothing store you can describe what type of garment a person is interested in.

This will aggregate into their stream with a link to your page and automatically be placed into the “Info” section of their profile.

Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg said during his keynote that they want Social to become the default for how we navigate the web. I think that with 400 million users they now have the power to make this kind of change possible.

Over time they will know more about you than Google has ever been able to know, and the power of that is both huge and scary.