Facebook users signal their approval of something by clicking the “like” button on websites and sharing their “likes” with friends.

But for some, this just doesn’t cut it. Telling people that you “like” social causes — like famine relief in Africa or Cancer research — doesn’t quite convey what you’re feeling, according to Matt Eastwood, chief creative officer at DDB New York.

Thus, DDB New York created a new option for Facebook users — the “I Care” button.

“Around the time of the (March 2011 Japanese) tsunami, everyone was (posting stories and information) to Facebook and it felt so wrong when you were looking at these images, to be clicking ‘like,’” Eastwood explained to Marketing Daily. “We felt there must be another way to solve this problem. If you could tell people ‘I Care,’ that means so much more than ‘like.’”

Facebook is now testing the “I Care” option, while Viacom’s (NASDAQ:VIAB) MTV has already added it to its MTV Voices social media channel. An recent article on MTV Voices garnered 274 “I Care” clicks, but only 9 tweets and 64 Facebook “likes.”

DDB New York hopes to see the “I Care” button eventually included on a large number of socially relevant web pages. “It’s most appropriate to news organizations and anyone who publishes a blog,” Eastwood told Marketing Daily.

Website publishers will be able to determine what clicking on the option does, including taking the user to a donation link or online petition. DDB New York also hopes to extend the option to other social networking sites like Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google+.

DDB New York plans to monitor use of the “I Care” option through icare-movement.com. The website will track issues and websites that generate significant public interest.