SocialFacebook Launches Subscribe Button for Websites as Timelines Begin Rollout

Facebook Launches Subscribe Button for Websites as Timelines Begin Rollout

After several months of beta access, Facebook has begun their global Timeline rollout, starting with New Zealand. Facebook also launched a Subscribe button for websites, allowing users to subscribe to personal account updates with a single click.

facebook-subscribe-button-forbesFacebook has launched a new social plugin for websites, the Subscribe button, which “publishers and other developers can add to their websites to make it easy for people to connect to reporters and public figures in one click,” ClickZ reported.

The Subscribe button for websites is an extension of Facebook’s Subscribe option, which the social network introduced in September. 

As Facebook explains:

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. The subscribe action is also shared — allowing others to subscribe directly via the News Feed stories, and further increasing viral distribution.

The button will be useful for high-profile users with personal accounts – brands will still use the Like web button to have users like their Page. People who share public updates can more easily have other subscribe from their websites with the new Subscribe button, likened to Twitter’s Follow button.

Facebook VP & Marketing Director, EMEA, Joanna Shields revealed the impending arrival of the Subscribe button earlier this week at LeWeb.

Facebook Timeline International Rollout Beings in New Zealand

Facebook is widening access to the new Timeline format, beginning in New Zealand, the company announced. Since September, more than 1 million users have taken advantage of developer beta access to try it out. Facebook intends to continue speed and performance testing as they roll Timeline out to users.

Timeline’s launch in the U.S. has been slowed by a September lawsuit against Facebook, filed by Timelines.com. The smaller site, a digital scrapbooking service, claimed in their suit that their service would be “rolled over” and “eliminated” by Facebook’s version of Timeline. On November 18, a federal judge moved the hearing scheduled for December to January 24, 2012, giving both parties time to schedule for discovery.

Facebook filed a countersuit against Timelines.com this week, arguing that the word “timeline” is commonly used. Facebook noted 10 websites that use the word, including Google, which has “an interactive timeline tool allowing users to ‘travel through time’ of Google’s company history,” according to paidContent.

Are you using Facebook’s Timeline on your profile? Let us know your thoughts on the new format in the comments!

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