At the F8 conference Facebook released developer tools that allows Facebook to be powerfully integrated across the entire web. With a little line of code, you can now “like” anything on the web, and it will be published on your Facebook profile for all of your connections to see.

I can go to the Levi’s website and “like” a pair of jeans:

I can even see which of my Facebook connections have “liked” a certain product:

As of right now, none of my Facebook friends have “liked” a pair of jeans, but I’m sure that will change shortly.

News and culture sites are also integrating the “like” button in interesting ways:

Here’s a screenshot from CNN:

In the bottom right hand corner of the homepage, it shows you who, from your network,  has shared or recommended a certain story. Once you click on a specific article, it is easier than ever to “recommend” it to your friends on Facebook:

Facebook has become a recommendation engine, a news aggregator, and a social shopping facilitator. Social connections have become the currency for the web, and will soon surpass Google as the number 1 traffic driver to websites. Plenty of people have been saying this for months, even years. What’s most exciting about Facebook’s digital domination?

Facebook’s open graph expansion further blurs the line between online and offline connections and experiences. Facebook has succeed as a social network because, more than anything else, it fosters real world friendship and interaction. It allows users to control who sees what elements of their information, and it allows users to connect in ways that would have been virtually impossible years ago. Obviously, this is a rosy portrait.

There are absolutely privacy issues, and a majority of users are blissfully unaware of how to change or edit their sharing or privacy settings.

But as social currency becomes the fabric of the web, we are moving closer to a “oneline” world — where your online and offline worlds co-exist, where digital connections impact my real world experiences, and vice versa. Think of all the parties you’ve planned using Facebook, the music you learned about, or even all the times you remembered to send a card, yes, a physical card, because Facebook reminded you of a family members birthday.

Because Facebook is the network that is most in tune with our on and offline life, it is in a fantastic position to help brands create “oneline” experiences and to target the influencers that matter most — our real life friends and family.

In the latest Forrester report on online influence, they reported that 500 billion impressions were made last year on peer to peer brand recommendations (Nielsen). These impressions are infinitely more credible than a banner ad, as they come from a peer who you trust (Hopefully).

Currently the online influence landscape is dominated by news and media junkies who share everything to benefit their friends. They love to curate, and they  love to influence. They pride themselves in being ahead of the curve, and being an “expert” in their circle of friends.

Now, with the explosion of the Facebook “like” button, the opportunity for every Facebook user to become a “Mass Connector” and “Mass Maven” is easier than ever, with a huge broadcasting platform.

While traditional online influencers are still important, and may inform the choices of mass connectors and mass mavens alike, the Facebook open graph protocol makes it easier than ever to integrate on and offline experiences, and for consumers to listen to all of their friends for recommendations online, not just their friends who are early adopters or social media fiends.

Will the Facebook “like” button increase the ability for everyone to share and recommend products online, or will the usual suspects (the content creators, mass connectors, and mass mavens) continue their domination of online word of mouth?

FYI, here are all of the stuff that my connections have Liked, on major sites,  since the button was released last week:

If you want to see a mashup of what your friends are “liking” go to likebutton.me

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