Facebook users in Australia can now share their donor status with their friends due to the feature introduced by the social networking site.

The new feature went live last Tuesday and follows the introduction of the feature in the United States and United Kingdom. Its inception in Facebook already increased the organ donor registrations. The average donor registrations in the US are 506 but since Facebook introduced the new feature more than 24,000 people have registered to donate their organs. This is confirmed by Donate Life America.

The head of policy and communications for Facebook Australia and New Zealand Mia Garlick said that the tool was designed to get more registered donors as users can talk more about organ donation and encourage more people.

"All the medical experts that we talk to believe that broader awareness of organ donation can help increase organ donation rates," Ms Garlick told AAP.

"We believe that by simply telling people that you are an organ donor, the power of sharing and connecting can really play an important role in increasing organ donation rates," she added.

According to the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing Catherine King, it is important and beneficial for family members and relatives to be open about their organ and tissue donation wishes as they would be asked about it if a family member died.

"With new research commissioned by the Organ and Tissue Authority showing that one in four Australians have never discussed their donation wishes, finding new ways to prompt the conversation is important," Ms King said in a statement.

King complemented Facebook for the new feature and said that it encourages more people to become an organ donor. The feature allows people to share their organ donor status, the date they registered and tell their story about why they became a donor.

The information is then published to their news feed where it is visible to their selected contacts. Users can access the feature by going to their timeline, clicking on 'life event', selecting 'health and wellbeing', and choosing 'organ donor'. A template opens which allows users to complete additional information.

There is also a link in this box which will take users to the appropriate page on the Donate Life Australia website where users can find out how to sign up online to become organ donors.