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Facebook has always being criticized for being too open. And, why wouldn’t it, when it has a founder and CEO evangelises the openness of the internet. But, the social network has evolved with time and in the recent months they have launched features and products which facilitate private interaction. The major changes came in the form of Messages and new Groups. Now, Facebook is taking a step ahead by launching the Send button and improving the features of its Groups. Facebook is launching the Send button almost after a year since the Like button was released, which celebrated its anniversary last week. The Send button has a similar look and feel to that of a Like button. But, unlike the Like button which allowed a user to share a content publicly, the Send button allows the user to share content privately with his friends. When you click on Send button a pop-up appears, using which a user can send that article or page to Facebook friends, Groups or any other email id. The send button, which currently started out with 50 partners , comes with a very interesting feature. The number of likes that will now be shown on websites with the Send button, would also include the number sends that page has received. If you already have a Like button on your website, you can include the Send button separately . But, if you want to include a Like button on a new page , you will also be provided with an option to include the send button along with the Like using a simple code. The Like button is one of the most popular features that Facebook has rolled out and is installed on more than 10,000 websites every week. It is omnipresent across the web and has a transformed the way we share data found on the web. The popularity of the Like button led to Facebook merging the Share button with it. Looking at the Send button now gives me a feeling that it will also be as popular as the Like button. The trend is slowly shifting and users are becoming more mature as Web 2.0 evolves. The growth of e-commerce sites have led to a whole new kind of sharing as our friends list comprise of both real and virtual friends. We might not want to share with our virtual friends, news of what we are planing to buy. But, on the contrary we love to share such news with our real friends. The Send button would allow us to do just that. There is another way of looking at the launch of the Send button. This is a good way of getting users to start embracing Facebook Messages, which according to Zuckerberg is a “modern messaging system.” Initially, the Send button would not replace the email buttons that many websites feature but, in the future, we can see the like button being used more extensively as users start understanding the potential that it has. other than allowing users to share links with friends and groups, Facebook is also allowing them to share links using email ids and that is what is going to be the game changer. Now, coming to the improvements made to Groups, there are quite a few. Over 50 million new Groups have been created since the new Groups was launched in October 2010. According to Facebook, “It’s grown quickly because of its social design. Instead of making everyone build and manage individual friend lists, one person can create a group for their families and everyone in the family gets to use it.” The improvements that Groups will be receiving now includes the integration of Questions, better membership control and the ability to upload photos. Unlike Pages or Profiles, a question or poll started on Groups would remain within the group and only members can respond to it. Previously you could only upload images on personal profiles which allowed your entire friends list to view your photos. But, now you can upload your pictures on specific groups and only the respective members would have access to them. The new group also gives the admin control over who joins the group. Earlier, any member could invite his friends to join a group but now, the admin can moderate who amongst the invitees can actually be a part of the group. These changes make Facebook Groups a more personal affair. You can use your profile to interact with all your friends and build specific groups to interact with smaller sects at a more personal level. These improvements also close a major discussion of what a brand should use to represent it self on Facebook — Page or Group. For those who had created groups before the new interface was launched last year, Facebook would provide an option to shift to the new interface. The launch Send button and the improvements made by Groups were inevitable considering the recent developments in the industry. +1 , the latest attempt at social by Google has seen one of its features — the +1 button — being released. Google is betting heavily on +1, which is expected to have Loops which is analogous to Groups. Loops would allow users to communicate more easily with smaller, more personal groups, rather than with their entire network. It seems, Facebook is slowly moving towards that as well. The Send button and the improvements made to Groups are just the initial steps that Facebook has taken to fight off the on coming Google +1. Check the Winners Of WATAwards Here Related Posts Social Search Through Facebook & Bing – Google Concerned? Google +1 Button Rolling Out Today To Take On Facebook Like Facebook And Skype Partnering To Bring Video Chat To Facebook Users? Orkut Revamp & Badges, An Attempt To Gain Lost Ground? Recap 2010 : Social Networking