Facebook launched a beta test of “Share,” a feature that allows members to share photos, blogs, videos, and other content by posting it to their profiles or sending it to selected friends within their network.

The Palo Alto, California-based social network offered the beta service Tuesday to users at the University of California, Berkeley, and StanfordUniversity. Facebook plans to launch Share across the network next week.

The new feature will allow members to share content within Facebook by clicking a “Share” button located next to content on the network, including pictures, videos, and blog entries.

Via a pop-up window, people will be able to preview and edit the content, add comments, and choose whether to post it to their profile page and/or a select group of friends.

Those who want to share content from outside Facebook will need to download a “Share bookmarklet” tool to their web browser or manually paste the link into a Share pop-up window on Facebook. The same pop-up window also gives users the option to tweak the content before they share or post it.

Keeping Track

A Share “Inbox,” located in the left navigation bar on a user’s home page, allows people to keep track of items they’ve sent to others or posted on their profiles.

Facebook appears to be treading lightly when it comes to launching Share—and no wonder. In September, Facebook management opted to launch “News Feed” across the network overnight.

The feature, which notified friends any time a member changed his or her site settings, prompted a large-scale protest by members who claimed it was an invasion of privacy (see Facebook Users Plan Protest). Facebook dropped the plan soon afterward.

Weeks later, the site expanded its user base by allowing individuals in more than 500 regional networks to join. Previously, users had to have an .edu email address, or be part of an organization with its own email domain name (see Facebook Graduates from College).

Facebook, which counts 13 million users, is the No. 2 social networking site behind News Corp.’s MySpace. The company did not comment on rumors that it is in acquisition talks with search giant Yahoo, or that it has set its sights on a $1-billion price tag (see Facebook Is Holding Out).

Contact the writer:AWeinstein@RedHerring.com

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