'Likers' have more friends, more active, finds Facebook

The results of some number-crunching by Facebook's Developer Network Insights team reveal some interesting insights into the people using the Like button and its effect on traffic.

So, who are the "likers"? In a nutshell, they have more friends on Facebook than a typical user as well as being over five times more likely to click on an external link on Facebook.

"This could mean the user is more "social" or more influential; on the other hand, it could mean the user is an attention-seeking narcissist," writes Mashable's Jolie O'Dell. "While it's fatuous to read too much into that statistic, the number does show that the average "liker" is more active from a social-web standpoint."

And, what about traffic? The figures released by Facebook are impressive. Since adding social plugins like the Like button publishers have seen a huge surge in traffic. Sporting News has seen a massive 500% increase in traffic while Gawker reported a 200% increase and ABC News 190%.

"These statistics show the positive effect integrating with Facebook can have on websites," concludes Inside Facebook's Josh Constine. "The experience of other sites and the ease of adding the few lines of code necessary to install many social plugins should encourage sites to at least experiment with the Open Graph API."

Tags: Facebook, Like button, social plugin