Facebook Working on Universal “Like” Button for People in Real Life

By Brian Briggs filed Monday, April 26 12:00 AM ET

San Francisco, California - A Facebook engineer has revealed that the social networking company is working on a real life “like” button that people can use to rate other people they meet.

The news follows Facebook announcement that they are expanding their reach into other sites by providing those sites with Facebook “like” buttons. The engineer, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “The technology is based on the QR codes that people will be required to tattoo on their foreheads, which most people didn’t notice in the recent medical insurance reform bill that passed a few weeks ago.”

The technology will be integrated into Facebook’s official applications on the iPhone, Android and other platforms. Users will just have to scan the QR code then press the appropriate icon in the app whether it be “like”, “mute”, or “share”.

The engineer didn’t have any information on Facebook planned on implementing muting or sharing, but said “it would be possible with HTML5.”

Those who follow social media closely are excited by the move. “As Facebook molds the Internet into a more high-school like environment, it’s not surprising that they plan on doing it for real life as well,” said social media expert Devon Harrington. “Until they put in a ‘dislike’ button though, it won’t be able to replace the ubiquitous ‘Do you like me? Yes or No’ note.”

Future plans include integrating GPS radios into skulls and RFID chips under the skin for better tracking data to be used only by your friends or friends of friends or everyone depending on your privacy settings.

For the technology to be effective no one will be able to opt out of the system, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. The engineer said he expected a roll out of the service to being in late 2010 or early 2011.