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> Those buttons do serve a very important purpose, which is to make it simple for visitors to share information.

Isn't it simple enough already? I mean, can you see a case where a visitor is like, "Man I'd love to share this post on Facebook, but opening up Facebook itself is just too much trouble."?



>Isn't it simple enough already?

Pick one:

- click a button & sign in (if not already signed in), & click share

OR

- Find the permalink of the information you want to share (not always obvious to people. e.g. the links my mom sends me via email), open the service you want to use to share, log in, navigate to the area of the service responsible for sharing information, paste the permalink, click share.

The buttons not only make it more easy and convenient they add a suggestive quality. Especially if the buttons include # of shares indicating a form of popularity.

So no, it's not a matter of something being "too much trouble" or "easy enough already". It's much deeper and if you really knew people well, you'd know there is no such thing as "easy enough already".


Those were my exact concerns, so I built a service to help: http://www.yourpane.com./

The low-down is that you install a bookmarklet and add some contacts. When you want to share a page, you click the bookmarklet, select the people you want it to go to, and click share. That's all.

The recipients don't even need a YourPane account, they just get an email saying that you sent them a link. It's basically very streamlined link emailing.


It happens, there are people who will not share content because they have to (god forbid) open a new tab. But if the content is good enough, little to nothing will prevent people from sharing it. If your content is that catchy or helpful or entertaining, people will share it.




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