In less than 24 hours after the big announcement of the Facebook Subscribe button for websites, the feature is now live and appearing on some of the biggest news sites like MSNBC, Huffington Post, Forbes and Washington Post, to name a few. The Subscribe button has the same functionality as it does on Facebook pages which eliminates the need for users to have to read an article and then have to go over to Facebook to Subscribe. You may recall that back in September the Subscribe button was launched eliminating the need for users to have to be friends to see updates, well on the ones that are shared publicly. Once a user subscribes via your website, they automatically see your updates in their news feed. Exposure!
Why Should I Add the Subscribe Button
Exposure! The goal of this button is to increase the viral distribution of your updates. It is no secret that the updates with the most ocmments and likes are highly favored by Facebook and, thus, appear higher up/rank higher. Far gone are the days when the Notifications on your Facebook page displayed friends/subscribers commenting directly to YOU. Now, they are all new updates from friends and those that you subscribe to (and yes all friends, unless you turned off the ability to be subscribed to are subscribers to YOU and YOU to them). Adding the Subscribe button places your updates into their Notifications.
How to Add the Facebook Subscribe Button to Your Website
The Subscribe button is added either XFBML or an iFrame. To add via XFBML, which uses the , customize this code for your URL:
Note the HTML5 code is:
To add the Subscribe Button via iFrame:
If code is a bit outside of your technical realm, Facebook through the developers page will create the exact code for you on the . You will note that there is a prompt asking to Show Faces.
If you do not uncheck the box, the code will vary from above and will contain the language to show faces:
Once you have the code, whether you customize from above or utilize the generated code, you place it on the page(s) you wish for it to appear. Or, you can just wait a few days as plugin developers for WordPress are certainly hard at work developing a downloadable plugin.
Will you be adding the Subscribe button to your site or waiting to see the feedback?
photo credit: Jay Cameron
