I happened to run across a post that was from Social Media Examiner, which explained that Twitter was removing the share count feature from social share buttons. The original announcement was made by Twitter, which said that social share counts on Twitter would stop on November 20, 2015. This news also came with the announcement of Twitter’s updated share and follow button design.
Twitter’s reason for shutting down the social share count was to keep the social network more dependable, as well as “simplify the platform.” They also mentioned that the share count was not even supported, which remains the question: why was it available in the first place, if they weren’t going to support it?
While I’m later in the game in talking about this issue, it doesn’t mean that I’ve been unaware of the issue. I’ve been quite aware of it for some time, and have been quite angry, but decided to weigh in after the date that Twitter officially shut off the end point that makes the share counts possible.
I’m quite in agreeance with people like Dustin Stout who, started a thread asking Twitter to clarify what will happen once the share counts are shut off. Many people from all over the blogosphere, and spanning several niche pitched in their cents.
Another blog post, one by Don Sturgill, lays out the frustrations that Twitter taking away the share counts will cause. Don Sturgill also pointed out that Twitter’s stocks have been declining over time, and may coorelate with their decision.
Twitters response to date is that they’ve remained steadfast in shutting down the feature, and stand behind their reasons for doing it.
Dear Twitter: How Will Bloggers Prove Their Social Proof?
This is the biggest question that bloggers have about this? For developers, this effects their plugins or themes, no matter the blog platform or content management system used.
To clarify, share counts are not removed directly from Twitter, only from the buttons that you, the blogger, see on your website. You can still see your Twitter stream, and see the likes and share count/ retweets there. For new posts, this means that counts could be a big fat zero. For posts previous to November 20, 2015, you may see some counts. Note: If you’re curious about how a single post is doing, especially an older one, simply put your Blog title into Twitter’s search, and see what comes up.
However, for the blogger who needs an immediate number in some of their posts on stats, handing access to Twitter Analytics isn’t going to cut it. Some people haven’t even figured out they even had such an option, and others know about it, but don’t care. They rely on picking from their most popular posts, and sharing a link to potential advertisers to help them earn money. Screenshots of Twitter Analytics can be altered with a little bit of photoshop, and giving direct access to that information is just unacceptable. Some advertisers need some fast facts, before filling out a form, or requesting a media kit from a blogger. The best way advertisers could get fast numbers, was by going through random posts and viewing the social engagement.
Since November 20, 2015, the bloggers that aren’t in ‘the know’ or regularly read social media marketing related websites, are just realizing that some of their new posts aren’t collecting numbers, even though they’ve seen that their posts have been shared when visiting Twitter directly.
So, how can bloggers prove their social proof? Even though this is extra work, my suggestion to bloggers is to select 10 posts that received great engagement. Once you’ve selected them, go to Twitter, and find the analytics for it. Take a screenshot, and add it to your media kit. The other way is to just go to your Twitter Analytics, and take screenshots of your monthly and overall stats. If advertisers or brands want to see more, then take screenshots of what they request.
Lucky for us, there is a way to still see the number of Retweets. Personally, I’d like to see a workaround to be able to bring social share counts back, or Twitter change their mind to support it as a feature. Just sayin’!
What are your thoughts on Twitter shutting down the social share count on buttons?
It is going to be a big issue. From now on traffic can’t be generated from current leading social media platform. It’s ridiculous. So, from now on how twitter user will share anything with just one click?
The share button still works. It’s just the counter that had been taken away. Some social share plugins in the WordPress plugin repository don’t even have share counts. However, people are still able to share at least.
It is an annoying move by Twitter. Twitter has done similar things in the past. They seem to be frustrated at their struggles to make a decent profit and when they get frustrated they think they should just cut off access to their APIs (that allow things like the share counts on buttons).
I think it is a big mistake for Twitter to behave in such ways. The Twitter counts on people’s blog posts are a big advertisement for Twitter (as are Facebook and other buttons for those companies). Companies should be thrilled to get all that free advertising at just the cost of sharing a little bit of data.
I’m frustrated why it was available in the first place, but Twitter said it was undocumented and not supported. Well… Twitter actually had it in their default share button that people could embed on their site. I’ve been scratching my head about that part.
Twitter should think about reaching out to their users with a survey. They could use one by now.
It seems strange that Twitter is removing rather than adding features. The counts may not be as high as Facebook but they’ll be higher than the others. Maybe they have something new lined up for us themselves?
Hi Sue! It is very strange. They’ve been hollered at the last few months by a lot of the top social media guys and gals in the field about doing this. They’ve not budged.
I didn’t think of that angle, but I guess we’ll have to see if that may be the case. lol
I actually wasn’t aware that this happened – I’m a little late to the party too!
I’m not nearly a big enough blogger for advertising to be a concern (and I focus a lot more on YouTube videos anyways), but I do wonder how it will affect those of us who are growing an audience. Social proof isn’t just important to advertisers – it’s also important for new readers who are trying to decide whether they want to subscribe or not.
Has anybody figured out an alternate way to include that social proof?
Hi Nile,
While the number of shares isn’t a very relevant metric, it’s better than showing nothing to the first time visitors.
Two days ago I’ve discovered a way to get my Twitter share count back. If you’re interested, see the post from my sig line.
Seriously where have I been? Since November 20 and I’m still hearing of it now. Now wonder I’m no more seeing twitter counts on my blog.
Thanks for the info.
This is interesting. I agree with Adrian. For a blog, such as mine, showing numbers can’t be too helpful. And that is the reason why I am using the plugin without any count. 🙂
While it could be that they have something else up their sleeves for people regarding social sharing stats, why not just say so? Why not just say “hey, we’re getting rid of feature X because we’ve got something even better coming up for you”?
To me it feels like they got rid of the feature because after they built it, they had no idea how to support or maintain it without it being too much of a load on their other features and services. Just my thoughts.
I think they knew how to support it. They just didn’t want to spend money to extend support/ man hours for it. Plus Twitter isn’t doing too well in growth.
I have been recently using Twitter to promote my blog and I must say I agree with the author here. Nevertheless, one tip which has helped me is to write on trending topics and the use of the right hashtags. Having a huge list of followers can also make things a lot easier. As far as the count of Twitter share is concerned in the plugin, I must agree that this is really an issue as RTs are not included in the final count.
Why did Twitter remove this nifty feature? Thanks for the walk around. But it’s going to be a little tricky to implement.
This is fascinating. Adrian is correct. Showing numbers on a site like mine isn’t going to help much. And it’s for this reason that I’m not utilising the plugin with a counter.