FACEBOOK TO TURN SITES INTO SATELLITE-HUBS

WITH ABOUT HALF OF Facebooks 400 million users checking in daily,the social networking company has established itself as one of the Webs most popular destinations.Now Facebook is intensifying its efforts to expand its empire beyond its Website;the company wants to turn scores of sites across the Internet into satellites where users will be able to interact with their Facebook friends. Details of Facebooks plans which involve a variation on its Share button,already prevalent on many sites are expected to be introduced by Mark Zuckerberg,the companys chief executive,in a day or two.But even before Facebook makes its plans public,its aim to become a social networking force across the Web is facing competition. On Monday,a coalition of other companies,including some Facebook rivals like Google and My-Space,are banding together to establish a new standard for Web sites to allow visitors share information,not just with Facebook but also with dozens of other social networking sites.The coalition is led by Meebo,a company that offers a toolbar featured at the bottom of many Web sites that visitors can use to share articles,photos and other links with many social networking services. Meanwhile,Twitter is also looking at expanding its presence across the Web with its @anywhere service,which will allow people to log in to Twitter from other Web sites. The moves by Facebook and its rivals set up a battle for control over social interactions across the Internet. There is definitely a multiround fight that is going to be happening here, said Jeremiah Owyang,a partner at the Altimeter Group,a digital strategy consulting firm. Analysts say Facebooks desire to spread its tentacles across the Web could run into privacy hurdles,as it will require the company to share large amount of personal information about its users with other sites.They are going to have to secure more consumers approval for data-sharing, said Augie Ray,an analyst at Forrester Research. Facebooks strategy,in some ways,follows an approach taken by Google nearly a decade ago.The Internet search engine,after establishing itself as a destination for Internet queries,began syndicating its search box,and later its advertising system,across the Web through toolbars and partnerships.As Facebook becomes an ever more important source of traffic to other Web sites,the two companies rivalry is certain to sharpen. Facebook declined to comment on its coming announcements.But people familiar with Facebooks plans say the company will introduce a series of products and technologies to deepen its presence across the Web. For instance,Facebook will introduce a universal Like button that Web publishers will be able to put on their pages.Similar to the Facebook Share buttons that are already popular with many Web sites,the Like buttons will make it easier for Web publishers to offer more social experiences,in essence allowing Facebook friends to enjoy those sites together. While Share buttons allow users to post links that their friends see on their Facebook pages,those links are fleeting.The Like button will allow Facebook to keep a record of what a user linked to,providing the company with ever more data about peoples preferences.Facebook,in turn,plans to share that data with Web publishers,so that a magazine Web site,for instance,may be able to show users all the articles that their friends like.Facebook is also planning to offer a toolbar that Web sites will be encouraged to place at the bottom of their pages.The toolbar will build on Facebook Connect,a service the company introduced in 2008,allowing people to use their Facebook identities to log into various sites.The toolbar will be easier for publishers to use and may encourage more users to log in.Facebook engineers were still working on the feature,and it was not clear if it would be introduced at the conference.But Facebooks toolbar is likely to collide with the efforts of Meebo,whose own toolbar has gained growing acceptance.It allows users to log in to Web sites with their identities from many social services,chat with friends from those services and select pieces of content from a site,like a photo,to share with those friends.The new alliance will establish standards that will allow Meebo to know easily what networks a user belongs to and give them an option to sign in with their identities from those networks. NYT PLANS Facebooks plans involves a variation of the Share button already prevalent in many sites Company wants to turn sites on the Net into satellites where users can interact with their Facebook friends CHALLENGES Rivals are getting together to allow new standard for sites to allow visitors share info Meebo offers a toolbar which helps users share their pictures & other info Twitter now offers @anywhere service Likely hurdles Privacy issues could come up Facebook may have to share a lot of personal info about its users Consumers approval needed for data sharing The way out Facebook plans to offer a toolbar that Web sites will be encouraged to place at the bottom of their pages The toolbar will be easier for publishers to use and may encourage more users to log in