Facebook announces the Subscribe button

September 14, 2011 By Mike Dunn

Facebook has announced the Subscribe button, which will allow users to follow updates of Facebook users who are not their friends. With the new feature you are also able to modify what updates you receive in your news feed from your friends.

Facebook has been busy lately, yesterday they announced new ways to sort your friends lists and today they announced the new Subscribe button. Facebook users will now be able to subscribe to people who are not their friends,and see their updates in their news feed. This all sounds very similar to Twitter and following people, but there are a few very important differences.

The subscribe button allows you to receive updates from someone you aren’t exactly friends with, but are interested in what they have to say. So now you can subscribe to famous actors, athletes, and even your favorite Digital Trends bloggers even if they have no idea who you are. You have the option to allow people to subscribe to your posts or not, and you will be able to see who is subscribed to you, and how many subscribers you have.

Facebook is also quick to point out that just because someone is subscribed to see your updates doesn’t mean you have to let them see all your posts. Before posting anything on Facebook there will be a button that allows you to select who exactly will get to see what you are posting. You are able to select if your update will be made public, or only viewable to your friends. It seems as though this will also tie in with the new friends lists announced yesterday, so you can further decide which of your friends can see your update.

Another feature announced with the subscribe button is a way to filter the content you view from your current friends, or people you subscribe to. Are you tired of seeing endless Farmville requests from your younger sister, or the never ending parade of baby pictures posted by your Aunt Becky? You are now able to select what type of updates you see from your friends. For example you can tell Facebook to stop showing you location check-ins from your friends, or even limit the updates to just show you when someone’s relationship or employment status change and other important changes.

It is very refreshing to see that Facebook is actively trying to help users modify what information they see, and how they see it. With Facebook’s f8 conference just around the corner we are expecting to hear about a new music service, and who knows what else. Facebook clearly trying very hard to be a one stop shop for social media.

Showing 11 comments

Chris Gillett at 7:25am 15th September 2011 It's difficult to see how this varies from the Twitter 'follow' button to be honest. Not saying that this is a bad thing, in fact it's a positive aspect, but it does re-align the view that Facebook is trying to be THE Social Media platform that encompasses all the users needs. Twitter and LinkedIn sit comfortably within their niche, Facebook are doing their best to nudge them towards insignificance.Not sure they will succeed in the near future however.Thanks for posting!Chris - 3seven9
1. Mike Dunn at 8:05am 15th September 2011 I think for me personally I like the fact that you can filter what updates you want to see. I really like the idea that I can "subscribe" to someone, but not see every single update. I would love to be able to filter what sort of tweets i see from people I follow on twitter.
  1. Chris Gillett at 8:08am 15th September 2011 For me, this is what is most interesting - sure you are making things more selective and filtering out the 'nonsense' (something we'd all like to be able to do on Twitter!) but you are also removing the 'real time' element. Facebook are giving you so many options to filter through before you can actually post anything there are 3 or 4 different facets you need to decide. In this 'mtv' generation this might be a bit too elongated...
    Mike Dunn at 8:16am 15th September 2011 I'm assuming they want to make modifying who will see your updates to be confusing/time consuming so people don't change it, and make everything public.
Mike Dunn at 3:19am 15th September 2011 @Trip, you don't have to block it. You have to enable subscriptions for people to subscribe to you. Oddly it's an opt-in feature.
Mike Dunn at 3:19am 15th September 2011 @Trip, you don't have to block it. You have to enable subscriptions for people to subscribe to you. Oddly it's an opt-in feature.
Evan Bosch at 2:34am 15th September 2011 thats lame
Trip Affleck at 11:32pm 14th September 2011 geez, FB really is the most stalker-friendly social network out there. how do you block this nonsense?
Trip Affleck at 11:32pm 14th September 2011 geez, FB really is the most stalker-friendly social network out there. how do you block this nonsense?
Henry Garcia at 11:17pm 14th September 2011 just a step closer for Facebook to be dead just like ahhhh MySpace? thats the name right?
Patrick Jaden at 11:13pm 14th September 2011 lame