DISQUS

John Santangelo · 4 months ago

I was looking into this just last week. So many times on corporate homepages, or on pages where they really don't belong, you see the standard "share this" type of widget to share posts on digg, facebook, etc. Who diggs a corporate homepage, really? Is global implementation really a good idea? No.

But then I was struggling to say why it was dumb other than "its just dumb," "nobody will click them," or "it looks unprofessional." Any thoughts on the argument that it's not helpful for global implementation on every page? I'm wondering how it could be proven that this sort of lazy or misguided implementation could be harmful to the site, rather than just an annoyance (other than the fact that the sites who do this have no traction on those social networking or bookmarking sites).

Dr. Pete · 4 months ago

Some days, I'd be happy if sites would just pick a couple, regardless of what they were. Just yesterday, I was on a site that had 25+ social media icons (all full-sized, maybe 1/2" square on my screen) - I'm not even sure I've heard of 25 social media sites, and definitely not ones that I'd use.

There's a basic rule of psychology that we seem to always forget on the web - if you draw attention to everything, you draw attention to nothing. Having half a screen of social media icons is just as dumb as having a blinking red "NEW!" next to everything on your home-page. Year 2009 strategies don't help if you have a year 1999 brain.

GregFinn · 4 months ago

"if you draw attention to everything, you draw attention to nothing"

Amen Brother, couldn't have said it better! I do like some of the buttons that do allow you to interact w/o leaving the site (like the reddit button) - but I agree 100% that if you leave 100 buttons on your posts you will be much less effective than leaving just one really relevant one on there.

Tony · 4 months ago

We deal with this all the time...we throw a common share module across all sites. I've seen sooo many sites do it without actually thinking through the timing, the relevance, and/or the type of visibility to create around the buttons.

Every site should ask themselves that question, "What buttons work for me?"

eClaire · 4 months ago

Great examples. I think people should try and search out the niche social sites that are appropriate to them. Some may be small traffic, but very targeted. There seems to be a handful of drigg/pligg sites popping up lately.

Nikki Thomas · 4 months ago

If you have a blog, you should definately have a digg and technorati button. If it is just a website, it should probably be a stumble upon button.

-Nikki-

GregFinn · 4 months ago

Hey Nikki - I am guessing that you are only replying to get a link (they are nofollowed even though they might look like they aren't BTW) but that is some pretty broad advice and incorrect IMO. The article pretty much sums up all the reasons why also - might be worth a read ;)

Elizabeth · 4 months ago

I wholeheartedly agree with this article, Greg. And in fact, even though I'm an entrepreneur with a button to promote to online retailers, we tell our potential customers that we DONT want to put the button on non-product pages/non-relevant areas. Our reputation is on the line as well -- if our button is irrelevant on one site, a user will likely not click on it again when they see it on another site.

Garrett · 4 months ago

Greg,

It was nice meeting you at lunch at SES (If you can't remember who I was, the link to my company's blog has my avatar). Anyway, This is something we have debated internally and are currently erring on the side of having too many buttons. Believe it or not, we actually "narrowed it down" to the 10 buttons that are there. At least we don't have them on every page like buy.com...

GregFinn · 4 months ago

Sure do remember you, thanks for the SearchBash recap BTW! Yeah, I always think less is more also (especially with buy.com) Funny thing about your buttons, the one I might think would do the best with your targeted content would be Sphinn (http://www.sphinn.com) and it isn't there :P Great meeting you, take care!!

Chris Bennett · 4 months ago

You can also set up out going link tracking inside analytics platforms like www.blvdstatus.com to actually see which posts and referrals are more likely to use your social media buttons, and which buttons are used on which posts as well.

midwest fire · 4 months ago

I think the only ones that are important to have on your website are the ones that have value to your customers. Do they really care about what you bookmark on delicious? Maybe they do!?

Garrett · 4 months ago

You know that is definitely a valid point. The question I have raised though is that when blogging about the tech/web industry you find a lot more people that are into the more obscure social media sites, therefore more buttons for us.

However, I would imagine that people that are interested in fire trucks might not be as geekily diverse. So you probably are ok with two or less, maybe none.

Jackie · 4 months ago

Well very soon you should add a Vreebit button. The other day I went through a online walk through of a news site about to launch - Vreebit.com is a new social networking site that attempts to combine aspects of Facebook, LinkedIn, and other sites. Besides the usual photo sharing and job seeking, Vreebit members can conduct polls and create petitions directed to legislative and business leaders.

schuessler · 4 months ago

This question is right in place. Do we need all bookmark buttons at addthis for example?

Ronald Redito · 4 months ago

Buttons are important if you want your sites to be ranked well in the search engine. By adding these buttons you are giving your readers and visitors the ability to share their finds out to the world through these bookmarking sites. I have a lot of these buttons in my blog. My most recent find which I think is the best is onlywire. It is automated therefore less hassle.