Last week Tumblr released a share button, and Google will be releasing a +1 button soon.
Can we stop with all the damn buttons?
Buttons ruin web site and blog design. How the hell am I supposed to cram 8 different share buttons into every post? And why should I? As a self-absorbed, egotistical blogger, of course I want my content shared and ranking high in search engines. That’s what every publisher on the web wants.
But I’m not going to bow to every damn network that makes a button so people can post it to that network. If I did, there would be no content on my blog. All that would be left would be hundreds of meaningless buttons that don’t give my readers any value. It would be like the Hamster Dance, but without anything adorable and terribly annoying. It’s 2011. We don’t need another hamster dance.
If people find content meaningful and useful, they will share it and link to it. We don’t need to make it that much easier for them. And publishers shouldn’t have to worry about remaking their website every night just because another share button is released. We work hard to make our designs useable and matching our personalities, not those of Google, Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, LinkedIn, and every social network.
Let me worry about making nice content. If the content is good enough, my readers will share it. If it sucks, they won’t. That’s how these things work. Buttons will never fix that fundamental truth.
