Introducing new Like and Share buttons

In 2010, we introduced the Like button to the world. Together, the Like and Share buttons are viewed over 22 billion times daily across more than 7.5 million websites. Like and Share are important drivers of Facebook referral traffic, which is larger than all other social networks combined according to a recent Shareaholic report.

Today, we're introducing a new design for both Like and Share to help people share more great content across the web. We're already seeing a favorable increase in Likes and Shares with the new design and will be rolling these buttons out to everyone in the coming weeks. If you are currently using the old Like button, you'll be automatically upgraded to the new design as part of our roll out. We've also made it easy for you to include the Like and Share buttons side by side and the Share button by itself:

Use Like and Share together to drive Facebook referral traffic to your website

The Huffington Post is one of the most popular domains in number of links posted back to Facebook and takes full advantage of the new Like and Share buttons. Like lets people post links to Facebook with one click, while Share allows them to add a personalized message and customize their target audience before posting:

Button placement also matters. According to The Huffington Post's Head of Product Nico Pitney,

"We place the Like and Share buttons right below the headline of our articles and in a persistent left side bar that stays with the user when they scroll down the page. We want to give people every opportunity to like and share content, and, at this point, I like to think we've made it hard not to engage in social actions."

You can use our configuration tool for Like and Share to display the buttons in multiple styles similar to The Huffington Post.

The business value of Facebook Likes and Shares

In addition to media publishers, businesses of all kinds can benefit from including the new Like and Share buttons on their website. Since integrating both buttons, Hotels.com has seen a huge spike in the number of hotel bookers arriving directly from Facebook. According to Hotels.com Product Manager Iain Niven-Bowling,

"The stories that are generated when a customer clicks on the Like and Share buttons are clearly resonating with friends and groups, resulting in high referral traffic and ultimately bookings to the 220,000 plus hotels at Hotels.com."

Additionally, the Hotels.com team has found that referral traffic is usually more qualified and converts at a higher rate compared to other types of traffic.

Similarly, JustGiving, a leading global social giving platform, uses Facebook sharing to encourage people to tell their friends about the non-profits that they care about after donating to them. JustGiving’s data shows that each Facebook share of a JustGiving page generates on average an extra $8 in additional donations. From October 2012 to October 2013, Facebook referrals to JustGiving generated $58 million in donations to good causes. According to JustGiving Product Manager Jonathan Waddingham,

"Facebook is the single biggest source of traffic for us, surpassing even our direct traffic. We've worked hard to make it easy for users to share their donations on Facebook, as we know it has a huge impact on support for their cause."

To learn more, visit our documentation for the redesigned Like and Share buttons. You can also find more best practices for sharing by visiting our Facebook Sharing checklist.