Facebook Mimics Twitter (Again!) With Introduction of Embedded Posts

Facebook is becoming more like Twitter all the time. First with hashtags that allow status updates to be discovered outside a page or profile, now with embeddable status updates.

Following the lead of its photo and video-sharing platform, Instagram, Facebook has announced embedded posts, giving users the ability to embed interactive status updates across the web. This feature is available for public status updates only.

Once embedded, users can interact with the status update like they would inside Facebook. “Like” pages, follow people and comments, and discover hashtag content on Facebook from embedded updates.

But it’s slightly more involved than it sounds. The embed code installs the Facebook SDK for JavaScript on the page, which is the code traditionally used to enable things such as the Facebook Like button and other social plugins from the site.

Facebook says having it twice on the page if it’s already on the site shouldn’t cause any problems:

Facebook said it’s beginning to roll this out now with select news media, with more availability coming soon. Facebook also gave tips for discovering content to share with this new feature:

• Liking pages or following the profiles of public figures and news publishers.
• Browsing hashtag feeds.
• Facebook interest lists.

This article was originally published on http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2286478/facebook-embedded-posts-let-you-share-interactive-status-updates-across-the-web.