Facebook puts public updates on display

With the widespread release of embedded posts, the social network is positioning itself as a digital water cooler where netizens discuss what's happening right now.

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The Facebook icon flag at the social network's Menlo Park, Calif., campus.

Facebook sharing will extend far beyond the walls of the social network as the company has released its embedded posts feature to all members Wednesday.

Embedded posts are part of Facebook's play to link its network of 1.15 billion people to current affairs and breaking news. The feature, first released to a select group of media organizations last month, now lets anyone embed public Facebook updates, like the one below from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on their own Web sites.

With the widespread release, Facebook has made some improvements to embedded posts so that videos can play inside embeds. The embeds are also now better suited for mobile environments, the company said.

Embedded posts work to supplement hashtags, added in June, and make the social network instantly more accessible to journalists, bloggers, and casual observers.

Facebook's desire to spread its content far and wide is meant to ensure that it is not excluded from conversations unfolding around pop culture, TV shows, celebrities, memes, or even tragic events, areas where Twitter, which has long been regarded as the world's digital water cooler, often has the real-time advantage. The social network's Twitter-like features also seem intended to make its apps more appealing to advertisers looking to link campaigns to trending events.