Yahoo is ramping up its integration with Facebook by adding the ability for users to automatically share with friends the articles they are reading on Yahoo News.
As part of Facebook's Open Graph push, which also includes integration with music sites like Spotify and Slacker and media companies like Netflix, Yahoo is providing users with the option to link up their Facebook accounts to Yahoo News and share their reading activity. Once you connect, articles you read will show up on Yahoo and in your Facebook news feed.
"Hear about the news from a trusted source - your friends," Yahoo said.
To activate, go to Yahoo News and click the Facebook button to log-in. Click "add to timeline" and you'll see friends who have also joined. Click their photos and a drop-down menu will display recently read articles (click below for larger image).
In case you forget that your reading activity is being broadcast on Facebook and Yahoo, the service will remind you when you just shared an article. If you don't want everyone to know you just read an article about Justin Bieber's favorite flavor of ice cream, go to "My Activity" and click the red "x" next to that article. It will be removed from your Yahoo and Facebook timelines.
You can also turn sharing off completely if you want to read in private, and turn it back on when you're ready to share. When sharing is off, your friends' faces will be grayed out and you won't be able to see their activity until you re-activate.
Your friends' activity is also displayed on the Yahoo News homepage, so you can go directly to articles that your friends have read. See the video below for more.
"Through our seamless integration with Facebook, we're promoting your friends to the status of social editors on Yahoo, making it simple to let your friends guide you to more stories, shows, and information than ever before," Blake Irving, chief product officer at Yahoo, said in a statement.
The news comes several days after Carol Bartz was fired as Yahoo's CEO.