7 ms·

Does anyone know if there's any data on how freauently people use sharing buttons? Do sharing buttons actually significantly increase sharing? I don't remember

by rayalez 10y ago

Does anyone know if there's any data on how freauently people use sharing buttons? Do sharing buttons actually significantly increase sharing? I don't remember ever clicking on a sharing button, except by accident, I always just copy paste the url, seems way more convenient. Do you guys use them? //In any case - awesome project!

downandout 10y ago
In my experience, it's less than 0.5% on average, and in some cases, far less. However, I've found you can get better than average share rates by bluntly asking users to do so - with a lightbox after they've scrolled to the bottom of the page (indicating they've actually read the entire article), for instance. You can do the same if a user watches a video to the end, etc. You're not allowed to directly incentivize Facebook sharing, however you're free to strongly encourage it. As with many things in life, it turns out that you won't get what you want unless you ask for it.
- kennydude 10y ago
  Lightboxes for this are terrible. Please don't do it.
  - losteric 10y ago
    I'm sure lightboxes drive up shares per view, but I wonder if there's data on how they impact views in the long-term.
    - downandout 10y ago
      More shares per view translate to more views, period. While sites certainly need to balance user experience with their need to grow, aggressively asking for shares works, and sites that do it will always do better traffic-wise than those that don't. I realize that ultra-white hat developers don't like this fact, and many would like to see it cause some sort of detrimental effect on the sites that do it. But unless the implementation is egregiously bad, most users simply don't care.
    - the_watcher 10y ago
      This is cynical, and arguably (probably) a net negative, but in nearly all cases, intrusive stuff like lightboxes, modals, and exit intent stuff works. It increases time on site, conversions, whatever metric you want to measure.
      - losteric 10y ago
        This is the part I don't understand > It increases time on site, My interpretation is that they increases time-on-site by pushing away people that aren't committed enough to wade through bloatware... and I don't understand how that works in the long-run. Is it more profitable to push away customers so you get high-quality data on the core customers, and increasingly targeted advertising? How does that work out in the long-run when you need to replace lost customers?
- initram 10y ago
  I've learned to intentionally stop all videos before they finish so that you don't get another unrelated video auto-started, you don't get some weird ad or other overlay that makes scrubbing back in the video impossible, and so you don't have to see a bunch of "subscribe to my other thing and here's a video preview of it that makes no sense without sound!"
thanatropism 10y ago
I'm always afraid that the link will be borked somehow (for example: a link that opens the app or requests an app install -- it happens on the facebooks, man).
haasn 10y ago
I always copy/paste the URL when I want to share a website. That's what the URL is meant for. Heck, it's easier to copy the URL (using the keyboard) than it is to use the mouse to click on some button. Sharing buttons are a nuisance more than anything. at best, I'd say they're a tool to enable spying on users and should be categorically blocked (as standard uBlock₀ filter rules let you do with a single click).
- michaelmior 10y ago
  It's easier to copy the URL, but it's still faster to share by clicking than it is to do by copying the URL, navigating to the site you want to share to, pasting in the URL, adding some descriptive text, and clicking the share button. Besides, sharing buttons which are just links (as in this post) don't aren't really that intrusive.
- hexane360 10y ago
  I can't believe Amazon doesn't have a "copy link" button. I guess they don't want too many "amzn.to" links floating around, but I hate to need to use bitly or an extension just to get the compressed link. I think the ideal solution should be very similar to Android's sharing setup: One unified share button that can be sent to different apps or copied to clipboard. http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nexus2cee_Screenshot_2014-10-17-15-19-351.png http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nexu...
  - komali2 10y ago
    I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean a button that grabs the current URL you're at? Do other websites have this? I'm not challenging you, I genuinely don't understand what you're talking about.
    - losteric 10y ago
      From the context, it sounds like getting a product URL from within the native Android app.
    - 10y ago
mxstbr 10y ago
I'd personally never use them since they only annoy me on other websites, but clients (or even designers sometimes… ugh) often want them because "We're Web 2.0". That's kinda why sharingbuttons.io exists!
franciscop 10y ago
The UK Gov has done great work about this: https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2014/02/20/gov-uk-social-sharing-buttons-the-first-10-weeks/ https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2014/02/20/gov-uk-social-sha...
Mahn 10y ago
I think about this often, and honestly, they don't seem to be worth it; I think if we got rid of all the share/like/tweet buttons the web would be pretty much the same (except with maybe less clutter).
morgante 10y ago
People absolutely use them. Moving them around on the page by itself has a significant impact on sharing, as does adding more buttons.

by rayalez 10y ago

downandout 10y ago

In my experience, it's less than 0.5% on average, and in some cases, far less. However, I've found you can get better than average share rates by bluntly asking users to do so - with a lightbox after they've scrolled to the bottom of the page (indicating they've actually read the entire article), for instance. You can do the same if a user watches a video to the end, etc. You're not allowed to directly incentivize Facebook sharing, however you're free to strongly encourage it. As with many things in life, it turns out that you won't get what you want unless you ask for it.

kennydude 10y ago
Lightboxes for this are terrible. Please don't do it.
- losteric 10y ago
  I'm sure lightboxes drive up shares per view, but I wonder if there's data on how they impact views in the long-term.
  - downandout 10y ago
    More shares per view translate to more views, period. While sites certainly need to balance user experience with their need to grow, aggressively asking for shares works, and sites that do it will always do better traffic-wise than those that don't. I realize that ultra-white hat developers don't like this fact, and many would like to see it cause some sort of detrimental effect on the sites that do it. But unless the implementation is egregiously bad, most users simply don't care.
  - the_watcher 10y ago
    This is cynical, and arguably (probably) a net negative, but in nearly all cases, intrusive stuff like lightboxes, modals, and exit intent stuff works. It increases time on site, conversions, whatever metric you want to measure.
    - losteric 10y ago
      This is the part I don't understand > It increases time on site, My interpretation is that they increases time-on-site by pushing away people that aren't committed enough to wade through bloatware... and I don't understand how that works in the long-run. Is it more profitable to push away customers so you get high-quality data on the core customers, and increasingly targeted advertising? How does that work out in the long-run when you need to replace lost customers?
initram 10y ago
I've learned to intentionally stop all videos before they finish so that you don't get another unrelated video auto-started, you don't get some weird ad or other overlay that makes scrubbing back in the video impossible, and so you don't have to see a bunch of "subscribe to my other thing and here's a video preview of it that makes no sense without sound!"

thanatropism 10y ago

I'm always afraid that the link will be borked somehow (for example: a link that opens the app or requests an app install -- it happens on the facebooks, man).

haasn 10y ago

I always copy/paste the URL when I want to share a website. That's what the URL is meant for. Heck, it's easier to copy the URL (using the keyboard) than it is to use the mouse to click on some button. Sharing buttons are a nuisance more than anything. at best, I'd say they're a tool to enable spying on users and should be categorically blocked (as standard uBlock₀ filter rules let you do with a single click).

michaelmior 10y ago
It's easier to copy the URL, but it's still faster to share by clicking than it is to do by copying the URL, navigating to the site you want to share to, pasting in the URL, adding some descriptive text, and clicking the share button. Besides, sharing buttons which are just links (as in this post) don't aren't really that intrusive.
hexane360 10y ago
I can't believe Amazon doesn't have a "copy link" button. I guess they don't want too many "amzn.to" links floating around, but I hate to need to use bitly or an extension just to get the compressed link. I think the ideal solution should be very similar to Android's sharing setup: One unified share button that can be sent to different apps or copied to clipboard. http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nexus2cee_Screenshot_2014-10-17-15-19-351.png http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nexu...
- komali2 10y ago
  I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean a button that grabs the current URL you're at? Do other websites have this? I'm not challenging you, I genuinely don't understand what you're talking about.
  - losteric 10y ago
    From the context, it sounds like getting a product URL from within the native Android app.
  - 10y ago

mxstbr 10y ago

I'd personally never use them since they only annoy me on other websites, but clients (or even designers sometimes… ugh) often want them because "We're Web 2.0". That's kinda why sharingbuttons.io exists!

franciscop 10y ago

The UK Gov has done great work about this: https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2014/02/20/gov-uk-social-sharing-buttons-the-first-10-weeks/ https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2014/02/20/gov-uk-social-sha...

Mahn 10y ago

I think about this often, and honestly, they don't seem to be worth it; I think if we got rid of all the share/like/tweet buttons the web would be pretty much the same (except with maybe less clutter).

morgante 10y ago

People absolutely use them. Moving them around on the page by itself has a significant impact on sharing, as does adding more buttons.