Facebook aims for more private liking with 'Send' button

Aiming to give Facebookers a more private method of sharing content they find across the web, the social networking site on Monday introduced the 'Send' button. Simply put, it's like the 'Like' button but giving the capability to share content to an individual friend or a Facebook group.

Groups have become an integral part of sharing content among small groups of people since the platform was introduced last October. Use of the feature has exploded, and the the company says 50 million groups have been created. The send button seems to be an effort by Facebook to promote Groups even more.

"There are times when you find something that you only want to share with a few specific people," software engineer Elliot Lynde wrote in a blog post announcing the enhancements to Groups. The 'Send' feature will initially be available on about 50 websites, including The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

Indeed, adding the new feature may also be an effort by Facebook to allay criticisms that the 'Like' feature has caused an increase in news feed spam, as some users of the site have become prolific likers. The company could be hoping that not only will the 'Send' button encourage its users to make use of the Groups functionality, but also to be more cognizant of who they're sharing with.

Facebook will include numbers for those using the send button in totals of 'Likes,' meaning that number will now essentially serve as a gauge of a link's total social activity across the site.

Other enhancements have also come to Groups as a result of Monday's update, including the option to upload entire photo albums to Groups, and new functionality to allow administrators to approve anyone added to a group by regular members.