Recent updates by Facebook to their like button has seen it take up the functionality of the the share button. Previously, clicking on the like button will post just a link of the page to your wall feed. But click on it now and it essentially does what the share button used to do.

When you click the share button on Facebook, it posts a link to the page, a except of the page and a thumbnail to image to the page to your wall. This is exactly what clicking on the like button does now. You can also comment on whatever you are “liking”, which wasn’t the case previously.

It seems Facebook has stopped developing the share button and will be replacing it with the like button in the new future. It seems just posting a link to a profile wall when someone clicks on “like” was going unnoticed.

I am not sure how users will react to having  a full story with headlines, images and links prominently posted to their wall. However this should be a welcome change for publishers because more people will now notice the likes on their walls.

Facebook spokeswoman, Malorie Lucich said that the share button will remain but that the focus is squarely on the like button now. She more or less called the new updates a test and said Facebook will continue to test the like button as they continue to improve their platform with developer feedback.

As to whether this will now make it easier for Facebook users to easily understood what the like button is used for remains to be seen. Many Facebook users had no idea what the button did. But now they will perhaps be more able to use it properly than in previous updates.