This paper discusses the emergence, prevalence, and relevance of the Share Widget.

1. Trend Assessment:
Emergence, Prevalence and
Relevance of Share Buttons on
Social Media
By: David Stein
MKTG 7546 – Professor Brey
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2. The Share Widget – What, Why and How.
The ―Share Widget‖, or share button(s) as they are often referred to, is a set of ―buttons‖
or clickable icons that automatically share whatever the user is reading or viewing with a
particular social network of their choosing. See Exhibit A in the appendix for an example of a
―share widget‖.
There are numerous social media platforms that allow this type of sharing, but the main
ones include: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Stumbleupon. Further, according to SEO (search
engine optimization) platform BrightEdge Technologies, 53.6% of the top 10,000 websites
include at least one social link, a percentage that continues to rise.1
The effectiveness of the share widget is a direct result of its ease of use. As mentioned
earlier, when an individual enjoys an article or a blog posting they’ve read on a website they
simply click an icon and instantaneously post the article to their Facebook friends, Twitter
followers, or LinkedIn network.
In the past, perhaps as many as 18 months ago, if users wanted to share their finds they
had to go to the trouble of copying the link and then manually pasting it into their social media
site. Share buttons have made it simpler, easier, and lightening fast to share people’s preferences
with their friends, family, and colleagues. Users do need to sign into their social media site in
order to display the post/tweet, but even this can be done right through the share widget software.
As Michael Stelzner of the Social Media Examiner notes, ―social media share buttons are a great
way to get your readers to share your content on their own social media profiles without leaving
your website.2‖
The share widget appears to be an extension, or the latest evolution of, social
bookmarking. Social bookmarking can be defined as ―the practice of saving bookmarks to a
public Web site and ―tagging‖ them with keywords‖.3 Though initially these public websites
(including familiar ones such as; Del.icio.us, Reddit, and Stumbleupon) seemed less mainstream,
other, larger and more popular, social media have become spaces for social bookmarking.
According to Facebook statistics and an infographic from SocialHype, over 1 million links were
uploaded to Facebook every 20 minutes in 20114. This, as one can imagine, is due in part to the
advent of the share widget (the article which provided this statistic, for example, was shared to
Facebook nearly 15,000 times using the widget alone). According to Facebook’s days-old IPO,
users generate an average of 2.7 billion ―likes‖ and ―comments‖ per day5. These of course are
just two of the buttons that a share widget can include. With Facebook’s tracking information
and data mining capabilities this information can be utilized in the creation of incredibly targeted
marketing campaigns and related sales pitches.
One of the most recent developments stemming from the share button is in terms of how
it’s being used by companies as well as individuals. For the individual, being able to tap into
ones network for recommendations has become incredibly compelling. The ―Likes‖ App
created by Willow Tree Apps is an example of this phenomenon. This free phone application –
currently available on the iPhone and Android scans one’s Facebook friends’ ―likes‖ of
1
Emarketer
2
Social Media Examiner
3
Educause Learning Initiative
4
Mashable
5
NY Daily News
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3. restaurants and bars as well as movies, TV shows and other things that people spend time and
money on. Further, if the user searches for an establishment, it lists the ones nearest first, making
it an excellent way to find a nearby eatery or drinking spot.6
Another very interesting development of the ―like‖ button and, by association, the share
widget comes from the company/marketing standpoint and in particular, from behind the scene
usage by third parties. This anecdote from The New York Times is quite illuminating and also
fairly terrifying. ―Stereotyping is alive and well in data aggregation. Your application for credit
could be declined not on the basis of your own finances or credit history, but on the basis of
aggregate data — what other people whose likes and dislikes are similar to yours have done. If
guitar players or divorcing couples are more likely to renege on their credit-card bills, then the
fact that you’ve looked at guitar ads or sent an e-mail to a divorce lawyer might cause a data
aggregator to classify you as less credit-worthy. When an Atlanta man returned from his
honeymoon, he found that his credit limit had been lowered to $3,800 from $10,800. The switch
was not based on anything he had done but on aggregate data. A letter from the company told
him, ―Other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped
have a poor repayment history with American Express.‖7
The share widget could be the ―next great thing‖ to happen to social media optimization.
It allows websites to focus on content and let virtual word of mouth (social bookmarking) do the
―heavy lifting‖. The implications for this technology are being felt throughout the web touching
nearly every aspect – from the pontification of the social websites themselves through the
network effect and new venues (i.e. interlinking between social websites), to news sources,
blogs, and of course e-commerce.
Success Stories
An intuitive understanding of the value of the share widget is important, but of course the
task for marketing people is the quantitative analysis of its value. LinkedIn and Stumbleupon
provide excellent case studies towards this end on the share button side, and Giantnerd does the
same from the company standpoint.
LinkedIn
According to Greg Cypes, director of product at Clearspring [the maker of AddThis – one
of the premier share widgets], for every article a user "shares" with his or her network, LinkedIn
drives an average of 1.5 clicks back to the publisher. "That is better than the average across all of
our networks, of about 1.1 clicks, and is about as effective as Twitter." Facebook ―shares‖, for
reference, drive around 1.7 clicks.8
Still, LinkedIn is small fish in the social networking game. As of March, 2011, LinkedIn
reached the 100 million mark for registered users.9 In comparison, at around the same time,
Twitter had around 175 million registered users10, and Facebook had over 620 million users11.
6
Larry’s World
7
The New York Times
8
Business Insider
9
LinkedIn Blog
10
Technolog.MSNBC
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Facebook Statistics
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4. We now have to ask ourselves two questions: Why then, does LinkedIn have such a great
click-through rate on ―shares‖ and why is the share button so valuable to LinkedIn users? The
answers are surprisingly simple.
The click-through rate on LinkedIn ―shares‖ is so high because LinkedIn has a
specialized niche. Though it’s considered a ―social network‖ LinkedIn is not for socializing.
Rather, it a ―professional‖ network for career purposes: building connections, job hunting,
expanding expertise or learning about gathering related intelligence. As such, users of LinkedIn
trust their network. Further, as Cypes adds, ―you can share all kinds of random nonsense on
Facebook and Twitter -- and no one cares, or remembers. On Linkedin, however, your future
bosses and employees are watching. People think before they share.‖
The LinkedIn share buttons found on other websites are valuable to LinkedIn users for
the very same reason. These are busy professionals. While Facebook and Twitter users may be
―playing around‖ on the Internet in their spare time and sharing YouTube videos and ESPN
stories, LinkedIn users looking at particular business related content may be pressed for time.
The ease of use of the ―share button‖ allows them to post relevant or interesting business related
links to their LinkedIn network with little more than a simple click. There is really no effort
involved. And this can be the difference between sharing an article or not.
Giantnerd
According to Social Media Examiner, in 2011, Giantnerd was named one of ―9
companies doing social media right‖. Among the reasons cited for its success was one telling
statistic, ―Since adding the Like button [one particular type of ―share button‖], their average
order has increased by 50%!‖12 As CEO Randall Weidberg states ―I want, and our members
want, recommendations from like-minded people and that's what the Like button gives them." He
added, "Most people have friends who have similar interests, so when they see that their friend
likes a particular product it has a real impact.‖13 Though the 50% growth and 30% jump in those
who placed orders is certainly due, in part, to the addition of the Like button it would be
misleading to credit this increased order size solely to this addition.
Potential Applications
While the use of share buttons continues to become more prevalent, and its effectiveness
seems intuitive, if not completely quantifiable, there are still potential applications that have not
yet been realized. Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge states, "Fewer than half the largest sites on the
Web offer any kind of social link at all on their front page and these sites represent a massive
slice of Internet traffic on any given day. We would expect to see a land grab effort this year as
plug-ins vie for placement on this very valuable Web real estate."14
Alexa (―The Web Information Company‖) lists Google as the number one site on the
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web. Still, there is no share button on the Google homepage or during searches. In many cases
individual searches are for social purposes (for example a search of Super Bowl statistics, or
about Jim Valvano during ESPN’s ―Jimmy V week‖), and it would be useful if a user could
share their search and/or the results with their network. This could increase traffic to Google and
their advertisers, potentially increasing revenue for each.
12
Social Media Examiner
13
InternetRetailer.com
14
BrightEdge
15
Alexa
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5. Social shopping sites are also prime for share buttons. Ebay for example has a Facebook
―Like‖ button as well as a few other social media share buttons (including Twitter), but they are
not prominently featured. In fact, until I began this project and looking for them specifically I
had never noticed them. Making these buttons more prominent, or featuring them in more areas
of the websites, and throughout the search and purchase process could have strong implications
for future users. For example, if I purchase tickets to a sporting event on Ebay and can easily
share this with my social network, friends of mine may decide to get tickets of their own and join
me. Though Amazon.com does not sell sports tickets, the same feedback could apply to them.
Wouldn’t it be valuable if I could share with my network that I just purchased the book ―Game
of Thrones‖? Perhaps my referential network of friends and family might want to purchase the
same book? Perhaps it would inspire the start of a book club? On the other hand, maybe
Amazon fears that spreading this knowledge would actually cause an opposite effect? Perhaps
someone in my network who was going to buy the book may see that I have it and just ask to
borrow it when I’m done?
Another potential application is for travel websites. Kayak.com, for example, is a travel
aggregator. Though it allows me to sign into the website via my Facebook login, there doesn’t
appear to be any share buttons. It would be effective if as a user I could share my potential flight
options easily with my network and it would be free and effective marketing for Kayak.com.
The Future of the Share Widget - Interview (with Colin McCloskey)
To get another perspective on the ―share widget‖, its business applications and its future I
have interviewed Social Media expert Colin McCloskey Principal and Founder of Awexome
Labs. (See Appendix B for a full biography and Appendix C for the full interview.)
Mr. McCloskey wraps up his interview, ―It’s a win-win, with a few caveats‖, which turns
out to be a great way to start this section of my trend assessment.
As noted throughout, sharing has become more prevalent among social media users, but
also amongst businesses looking to capitalize on this situation – and so far it appears to be a
positive synergy. ―There's an obvious incentive for a user to share content on Facebook, as their
friends will then see what they find interesting. There is, too, an obvious incentive to a publisher
to include the Like button throughout their site, as it provides friend-to-friend recommendations
and lots of interesting traffic, which leads to additional sales, advertising dollars, and more.‖
Further discussing this relationship and its impact Mr. McCloskey makes a few other
notable comments: ―Having your content, your brand, your product, and your everything shared
on the largest social networks is one of the most important ways to generate new traffic and
additional revenue.‖ ―While our everyday browsing has been impacted, our decision-making has
been subtly impacted, as well. Have you read an article online, recently? Nine times out of ten, it
seems, our friends are recommending said article. While reading a hockey recap, seeing that
John Doe, Jane Doe, and 12 other friends recommend Bauer Skates might impact my next
purchase. At present, this is most frequently used to motivate reading and content discovery, but
it is only a matter of time before it becomes significantly weighted towards product
recommendations and advertising.‖ Mr. McCloskey further espouses, ―Proper implementation
of share buttons is no longer a "nice to have" addition, but is now a pre-requisite for designing
engaging online content, particularly any content with business objectives.‖
With the speed that the Internet moves and the technologies and innovation surrounding
it, the share widget trend continues to develop as well – both in its uses and applications. ―A
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6. share widget's end-user experience may not change drastically, but the usefulness of the
information from a "like" or "share" will continue to increase. Innovation in this area will be
driven, in part, by the growing competition between the three major social networks: Facebook,
Twitter, and Google+. It is likely that social bookmarking sites such as Stumbleupon, digg, and
del.icio.us will continue to exist, but will essentially be overmatched by the size of the larger
social networking sites.‖ When, thus, questioned about what it will take to stay ahead of the
competition Mr. McCloskey notes the importance of maintaining the relationships between
companies and the social networks, and staying on top of the developing technologies and trends
– such as purchasing directly through Facebook.
Still, as ―great‖ as the share widget is, there are inevitable negatives. ―Sites that have
poor share strategies often present the user a barrage of share widgets on all sides of their content
and at every turn. I believe, in time, we will see users become exhausted by this form of sharing
proliferation, which presents itself as mostly "out to get the like," as opposed to offering a
sharing feature beside compelling products and content.‖ Website cluttering can give users a
negative online experience, but nothing about the Internet and social media sites, in particular,
scares users more than the risk of giving up their privacy – though it should be noted that more-
often-than-not users give up their privacy knowingly for several reasons. This however, is also
one of the strengths of sharing for companies and the social media sites. As Mr. McCloskey
states, ―The most dangerous, but most business-compelling element of the share widget
proliferation lies in the data collected about users by social networks and their partner sites.‖
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7. Appendix A
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8. Appendix B
About Colin McCloskey
COLIN McCLOSKEY is the Principal member at Awexome Labs, a consultancy specializing in
the design and development of social media engagement and marketing products on the web and
inside the world's largest social networks. He has managed and personally developed over 50
successful social media applications and campaigns, targeting a customer reach of over 10
Million.
Prior to founding Awexome Labs, Colin was an early-stage employee at San Francisco startups
Context Optional and Involver. From 2008 to 2010, he worked with Fortune 500 businesses and
large brands to develop social media campaigns, reaching over 8 Million fans and users. Notable
customers included Microsoft, Electronic Arts, McDonald’s, DIRECTV, Facebook, NBC
Universal, and Safeway.
Colin cut his teeth as a member of the CNET Networks Platform Infrastructure team,
engineering tools used by engineers and producers throughout the company. Colin completed his
B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Delaware in 2005, and has one year of graduate
study in the field of Educational Technology under his belt.
http://awexomelabs.com/
http://mccolin.com/
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9. Appendix C
THE FUTURE OF THE SHARE WIDGET
Interview with Colin McCloskey
1) How has this trend impacted the business landscape?
When Facebook introduced the Like button at their developers' conference in April of 2010,
there were a handful of somewhat-established social bookmarking sites, of which digg,
del.icio.us, and Stumbleupon were the most prominent. Bookmarking sites hold a mere fraction
of the visits large social networks garner, and Facebook is by far the largest of the social
networking sites out there.
By introducing the Like button, which automatically shares a given link to one's friends on the
social network, Facebook immediately offered publishers an opportunity to connect Facebook's
incredibly recognizable brand to their visitors. The Like button made sharing content while you
browse the Internet a near-effortless interaction for everyday users. There's an obvious incentive
for a user to share content on Facebook, as their friends will then see what they find interesting.
There is, too, an obvious incentive to a publisher to include the Like button throughout their site,
as it provides friend-to-friend recommendations and lots of interesting traffic, which leads to
additional sales, advertising dollars, and more.
With Facebook's Like button in the fray, competing social networks all followed suit, creating
their own buttons. You can now easily re-post or share content to Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+,
Yahoo!, and a host of other sites. This bevy of options allows a publisher to give their users the
choice of where they'd like to share their content. Publishers receive secondary,
recommendation-based traffic from a variety of sites, and the sites in question are incredibly
large social networks, as opposed to much smaller, niche bookmarking sites.
For a site in the business of selling goods, publishing content, or engaging in other sales, the
implication is clear: a well-placed share button --be it Facebook's "Like," Google's "+1,"
Twitter's "Follow" or combination of options-- can drive up user engagement, word of mouth
marketing, and traffic. The natural connection, then, is that increased traffic can drive higher
advertising revenue and/or product sales.
Proper implementation of share buttons is no longer a nice to have addition, but is now a pre-
requisite for designing engaging online content, particularly any content with business
objectives.
2) What specific industries and consumer segments are impacted (the greatest)?
Online share widgets have certainly changed the marketing methods that must be used in every
industry that has or wishes to have an online presence. Having your content, your brand, your
product, and your everything shared on the largest social networks is one of the most important
ways to generate new traffic and additional revenue. It has significantly changed the online
publishing industry. As a corollary of this change, each industry and market that wishes to
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10. engage customers online must now consider their strategy when it comes to generating and
making use of shared content.
Customers have been impacted in a number of ways, but most obviously in what some are
referring to as an inundation of share options. It's quite common, now, to see half a dozen share
buttons beside, atop, and below every article we read on a news website. Every piece of content
we read online now seems to ask the question: will you share me? At some point, consumer
exhaustion will take hold.
While our everyday browsing has been impacted, our decision-making has been subtly impacted,
as well. Have you read an article online, recently? Nine times out of ten, it seems, our friends are
recommending said article. While reading a hockey recap, seeing that John Doe, Jane Doe, and
12 other friends recommend Bauer Skates might impact my next purchase. At present, this is
most frequently used to motivate reading and content discovery, but it is only a matter of time
before it becomes significantly weighted towards product recommendations and advertising.
3) How is the trend itself developing? What's next? Will Google+ overtake Facebook or
Twitter or Stumbleupon?
Facebook maintains an incredible lead in terms of social network market share. So much so, that
they now boast over 845M users which are active in any given month. As time moves on, many
competing social networks, including Twitter and Google+, will be focused on growing their
user bases in an effort to "be as important" as Facebook in the social networking realm.
A share widget's end-user experience may not change drastically, but the usefulness of the
information from a "like" or "share" will continue to increase. Innovation in this area will be
driven, in part, by the growing competition between the three major social networks: Facebook,
Twitter, and Google+. It is likely that social bookmarking sites such as Stumbleupon, digg, and
del.icio.us will continue to exist, but will essentially be overmatched by the size of the larger
social networking sites.
4) What will be needed to stay ahead of competitors?
Facebook, will begin to focus specifically on raising the income it generates per user. At over
845M active users, the company is reaching a saturation point. In order to continue to grow, they
will need to turn their attentions to offering more effective marketing and income opportunities
to their current users. This will likely result in a proliferation of more sharing opportunities, but
also the debut of new and income-generating ways to use the preferences, likes,
recommendations, and other information that has been collected from users since the launch of
their share widget.
By building new products in these areas, Facebook can maintain deep relationships with
advertisers and businesses that have a mutually beneficial relationship with the social network.
Facebook's biggest advantage in this area is their incredibly large user base and their head start in
terms of advertising relationships, revenue, and tools.
9

11. On the company side, it will be important for companies to continue to make effective use of the
like and share buttons across the social networks. They will also need to use the collected data
for targeting and selling, and use the new sales avenues effectively. In the very near future
buying products directly through Facebook will be viable and incredibly potent.
5) Do you see negative aspects to the share widget? (ie. website cluttering, making the
content of the site seem more focused on obtaining mass audience than being being
genuine, etc.)
Sites that have poor share strategies often present the user a barrage of share widgets on all sides
of their content and at every turn. I believe, in time, we will see users become exhausted by this
form of sharing proliferation, which presents itself as mostly "out to get the like," as opposed to
offering a sharing feature beside compelling products and content. However, we will see the
majority of sharing implementations --particularly on business sites-- improve as a series of best
practices emerges.
The most dangerous, but most business-compelling element of the share widget proliferation lies
in the data collected about users by social networks and their partner sites. For instance, it is
possible for a site like Facebook to theoretically track your Internet reading habits on sites that
offer a Like button even without your having to interact with the share widget itself. This,
coupled with scads of user preference information, will be fed into targeted advertising,
recommendations, and more in the coming years.
All in all, the share widget provides an attractive and effortless way for everyday users to share
their favorite products and content with their friends. The widgets also compellingly provide vast
amounts of information and recommendation-based traffic for advertisers, publishers, and online
businesses. It's win-win, with a few caveats.
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12. Works Cited
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/facebook-is-using-you.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
BrightEdge. (2011, July 8). BrightEdge Social Share Analysis of Top 10,000 Sites. Retrieved from BrightEdge:
http://www.brightedge.com/2011-07-08-brightedge-socialshare
Burbary, K. (2011, March 7). Facebook Demographics Revisited – 2011 Statistics. Retrieved from Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=197149076992338
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Examiner: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-companies-doing-social-media-right-and-why/
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http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/05/01/new-mass-medium?p=2
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Unknown. (2012, February 3). Likes App Tells You What Your Friends "Like". Retrieved from Larry's World:
http://www.larrysworld.com/2012/02/03/likes-apps-tells-you-what-restaurants-and-bars-your-friends-like/
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http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/03/22/linkedin-100-million/
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