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Facebook Testing the Want Button 147

Posted by samzenpus from the do-not-want dept.
redletterdave writes "Facebook already knows what you 'Like.' Soon, it may ask you what you 'Want'. Tom Waddington, a Web developer for the craft website Cut Out + Keep, discovered that Facebook has included code for a disabled 'Want' button within the Javascript of its list of social plug-ins. The code was released to the Facebook Javascript SDK last Wednesday, but Waddington discovered the disabled button among other embedded tags, including 'degrees,' 'social context' and 'page events.' Waddington says the 'Want' button would work with Open Graph projects that use the tag 'products.'"
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Facebook Testing the Want Button More

Facebook Testing the Want Button

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  • More than anything in the world... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02, 2012 @04:33PM (#40521575)

    ...I want Facebook to die.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Your ideas are intriguing to me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter

    • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:5, Funny)

      by biometrizilla ( 1999728 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @04:40PM (#40521647)
      I want to see how many "Wants" Kate Upton's page gets.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by schnell ( 163007 ) <me&schnell,net> on Monday July 02, 2012 @08:21PM (#40523129) Homepage

          I can't think of any marketing professional who would give two shakes about this metric

          Are you kidding? If I make a post about how I just bought a new Samsung Galaxy Class Starship at T-Mobile and my friends click the "want" button, it is absolutely worth gold to T-Mobile to have their ads steered to those FB users.

          Or as another application... I already share my Amazon Wishlist with my friends so they can buy me stuff I actually want for my birthday/Christmas ... why not push that directly onto Facebook and allow sellers of those items to advertise for them and/or compete on price via ads?

          • and fb will 'accidentally' become the affiliate associated with all amazon links...

          • >Samsung Galaxy Class Starship at T-Mobile

            I don't know if the mixture of Star Trek (post-scarcity society - by definition incapable of supporting a capitalist economy) with a capitalist symbol such as a corporation was a deliberate irony but either way - I lol'd.

      • As the Romans say, "T-R-V-T-H." Million of males will use it to 'want' females, and then Facebook will face accusations of harrassment.

    • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:5, Funny)

      by CanHasDIY ( 1672858 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @05:06PM (#40521929) Homepage Journal

      ...I want Facebook to die.

      Where's that damn like button when you need it?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Chrisq ( 894406 )

        ...I want Facebook to die.

        Where's that damn like button when you need it?

        And where's the button to say you want a like button.

    • It will. It's just another fad after all.

      • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Charliemopps ( 1157495 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @07:17PM (#40522779)
        unfortunately fads only die when even more terrible fads replace them.

        • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by rockout ( 1039072 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @07:43PM (#40522929)

          None of you really have a problem with Facebook. Your real problem is with the human race, a large percentage of which have signed up for Facebook and whose numbers have grown so large that it's impossible for the rest of us to avoid Facebook, as it has permeated our lives whether we wanted it to or not.

          It's like living in Boston and trying to avoid any mention of the Red Sox.

          • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:4, Insightful)

            by sarysa ( 1089739 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @09:18PM (#40523459)
            Which is why we so desperately need to fund space research. It's the only way to get away from Facebook.

          • I am still holding strong, me and the other guy too.

      • Re:More than anything in the world... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by silentcoder ( 1241496 ) on Tuesday July 03, 2012 @05:24AM (#40525547)

        >It will. It's just another fad after all.

        I'm not so sure you're right. It's already outlived every social network before it (by which I mean total lifespan from foundation to demise) - and it doesn't even seem to have peaked in users yet.
        Several attempts at competition have come and gone - twice from the mighty google (and one of those arguably had a better user-experience to start with) and still it remains the behemoth of most people's online experience.

        There may be more to this than just a fad. I think part of it may be in their internal approach to running the company. They seem to seriously focus on being an awesome place to work who can get the best of the best coding minds. A friend of mine was a google engineer, she just left them for facebook - she actually took a paycut to do that (granted she was with google in Zurich which is the best paid development office in the WORLD - she would take a paycut for ANY other job).
        If you look at their job ads they include this choice line: "Most developers are used to weeks or months between writing code and it reaching production. At facebook, your code will be in production on the busiest website in the world within days."

        Now doesn't that sound exciting ? Scary? Challenging ? The kind of thing that the true geniusses of our field love ?
        Maybe, just maybe, facebook is doing well because they offer a service their users find valuable, their customers benefit from (and I am well aware that those aren't the same people) and they give their technologists the creative free reign to make magic ?

        • I joined Facebook because a lot of people I know are on it, this is mostly the same reason most people joined, I don't think much of it but my friends are still there, (mostly because so is everyone else)

          They would have to seriously annoy their users to lose them, this is what happened to MySpace, and the biggest complaint against Google+ was that "no one is on it" ...

          Why would you leave Facebook to join another similar system that has only a few of your friends on it ...?

          • I have no doubt that what you are suggesting is a significant factor (indeed "all my friends are there" is part of the 'valuable service' I mentioned). Occam's razor suggests it's a major factor in their success since it is certainly the easiest explanation.
            The question I raised was: is it really the ONLY factor ?

          • Why would you leave Facebook to join another similar system that has only a few of your friends on it ...?

            Because those friends aren't your parents, teachers, etc.
            Simply wait, I'm sure that a generation gap will form in a few years.

            When your are an old grump, you don't join facebook, because you and your peers are already used to organise your life in a way which doesn't involve internet.
            When you are a young adult today, you join facebook, because all your friends are organising their lives online through it.
            When you are a kid today, even if you're only forming your first social circles and the like, you'll pro

    • #firstworldproblems

    • I want Facebook amps not to be a completely privacy invading tool that puts anything I might send or say privately out into the world at large for sale to even a modest bidder.

      On second thought...I think I want Facebook to die too. Their only viable business model is to put our stuff out in the street for profit. I've gotten to where I am hesitant to use it for anything important, and my contacts there are mostly "here is my new phone #, secure IM, and my email -- lets talk there". Facebook's privacy poli

    • I like this.

    • ...I want Facebook to die.

      Like

    • *Like*

    • Does it matter? If my feed is indicative of anything, it's already withering. Everybody might be on the Facebook, but from what I can tell during the once a month I bother to log in, only about 3% of the users post more than 5 times a year. Interestingly, the changes to timeline and such have had the effect of filtering out the banal posts, so it appears less activity is occurring than the now limited amount there is.

      I might be an outlier. Maybe the people I know are bored of Facebook but everyone else is g

  • Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by sam_paris ( 919837 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @04:38PM (#40521617)
    Do not want.

  • Next: "Fucked" button. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Post-O-Matron ( 1273882 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @04:38PM (#40521625)

    So we know who fucked whom.

    What else is left?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by V-similitude ( 2186590 )
      Want to fuck?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      And not a single "fucked" was given that day.

    • Re:Next: "Fucked" button. (Score:5, Informative)

      by 0100010001010011 ( 652467 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @05:28PM (#40522117)

      They used to have it. Under 'Relationships' there was a 'Hooked Up' option with a date. iirc it was one of 4: Single, It's complicated, In relationship with and hooked up.

      Back before the apps, before ... well damn near everything.

      • They used to have it. Under 'Relationships' there was a 'Hooked Up' option with a date. iirc it was one of 4: Single, It's complicated, In relationship with and hooked up.

        Back before the apps, before ... well damn near everything.

        I've been with Facebook since it was only available for individual university campuses and there was never a Hooked Up option for relationship status. There was, however, a way you could specify how you knew someone (i.e. worked with [friend] at [company] in [year], had [class] with [friend] in [year], [friend] is a relative, etc) and "hooked up with [friend] in [year]" was among those options, but it was very buried in a person's friends list and certainly not something that was displayed prominently on th

      • They also used to have "Looking For" and the options were "Friendship / Dating / A Relationship / Random Play / Networking". You know, back when social networking actually meant networking with new people. Now the culture is "don't add people you don't know".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Torodung ( 31985 )

      A "fuck it" button, so we know where to draw a line.

    • What else is left?

      Well, I've been waiting for them to update the "Like" button so it has 3 options:
      1. "Like" (default)
      2. "Support" - can be used for a cause or product, or for a friend's "my dog just died" post where "like" isn't exactly appropriate.
      3. "Want"

      So perhaps soon they'll do the last one, and I'm sure eventually the "support" type one will come.

  • give me a dislike button and I sign up (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    And as far as products are concerned, we have more use for a "do not buy!" button.

  • Dislike Button (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02, 2012 @04:41PM (#40521651)

    That would actually make facebook a useful tool. Of course the advertisers don't want their products to be branded as disliked, so it will never happen.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      How about a greasemonkey script that allows users to see the new "Want" button to be a "Dislike" button? Spread it amongst enough people and I'm sure it could catch on and severely backfire on facebook if people twist this stupid Want into a long-awaited Like/Dislike combination.

  • Can I "like" someone's "want" or "want" someone's "like"?

  • "A "Want" button would help Facebook get back into Wall Street's good graces. By opening up an API for a "Want" button, companies will be able to more accurately gauge the interest in a given product, whether it's already released or still upcoming." Too bad Facebook didn't have access to such information before changing everyone's e-mail address.
  • What I really want is a "Deslike button".

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      a "Deslike button"

      You're fond of diethylstilbestrol? You enjoy Discrete Event Simulation? You still encrypt with the Data Encryption Standard? You prefer flying out of Desroches Airport?

    • What I really want is a "Deslike button".

      WTF is 'deslike?'

      That makes so little sense I can't even think of a way to make fun of it...

      Perhaps you meant a dislike button?

  • Great (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Soon you will be able to tell Facebook more complicated things like:

    me want banana
    like banana
    want like me
    want fuck

    and so on. Just by adding a few buttons, the possibilities will be nearly endless.

    • Re:Great (Score:5, Funny)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @05:01PM (#40521875)

      Soon you will be able to tell Facebook more complicated things like:

      me want banana like banana .

      Daylight come and me wanna go home?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sco08y ( 615665 )

      Soon you will be able to tell Facebook more complicated things like:

      me want banana
      like banana
      want like me
      want fuck

      and so on. Just by adding a few buttons, the possibilities will be nearly endless.

      A banana button? Sounds like Web 4.0 to me!

  • Okay, so Like and Want... are we going to get "Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!"?

  • all my contacts' email addresses back !

  • you know the old saying, "wish in one hand and shit in the other -- see which one you get first." how useful is this to marketers when everyone "Wants" a lamborghini, a $10,000 designer suit, and other outrageously expensive shit. dumb ass idea. everyone start making your ideals into product pages. then we can "Want" world peace, war with china, no more taxes, death to our least favorite politicians/entertainers/slashdotters, etc. what a stupid, stupid, stupid idea ripe for abuse. just like Like.
  • ... It'll give you dia-fucking-betes.

  • I think people [want] a [dislike] button more than they want a [want] button

  • I am with others here who would instead prefer a "dislike" button. "Dislikes" would preferably cancel out "likes," for the ultimate in meaningless, peanut-buttered, crowdsourced opinion.

    Matchbox 20's new album - Beige
    (30,000 people like this) - (30,000 people dislike this) = score:0

  • Facebook has the only button Facebook needs: (Score:5, Funny)

    by PeanutButterBreath ( 1224570 ) on Monday July 02, 2012 @05:26PM (#40522093)

    "Log Out"

    I'm sure they are looking in to ways to phase it out.

  • I need a Greasemonkey script that changes it to a "covet" button.

  • Can we also get a "Do not want" button as well? The amount of fat/ugly girls trolled would be amusing.
  • ... like Facebook not constantly messing with privacy and email settings without users' knowledge or consent. Will there be buttons for those.
  • Hot
    Not
    My
    Benjamin
    Button, Who's Got the . . .
    The
    Help
    Push
    Really Big
    Burning with Desire
    Need
    Gotta-Have-It
    Die Trying
    Don't Push This (my favorite)

  • If are going to have "What do you want?", you also need "Who are you", and "Why are you here?"

    • If are going to have "What do you want?", you also need "Who are you", and "Why are you here?"

      To the extend that Facebook cares, the latter two can be deduced from the former.

    • If are going to have "What do you want?", you also need "Who are you", and "Why are you here?"

      They already ask "Who are your friends?" and they probably have enough information to infer "Who do you trust?"

  • Click the Want button on a person and you hear a version of the Bob Dylan song "I Want You"

  • "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next 10 generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me Mr. Zuckerberg?"

  • is a DISLIKE button.

  • ...was my first thought, seeing "want button." Now I think this is probably just a way to hook up FBers with companies' products, another way of clicking on an ad.

    Although, much of what's on Pinterest is about pining away for the things we can't afford...

  • A button tailored for marketers to "want" different products.
  • Half of the users will probably want sex within minutes when this feature comes live.
  • I think I will put up a page called "The Lord's my Sheppard I shall not ...."
  • I thought they announced last year that they would be opening up their Open Graph API to handle all kind of verbs. http://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph/ [facebook.com]

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