Hi there, folks! I have some exciting news. After some testing, we’ve decided to make the switch to static social sharing buttons. We’ve also redesigned the buttons to be more noticeable and attractive to readers. Here’s what the new ones will look like:
So, what’s different about the buttons, other than the way they look?
Unlike the current social buttons, static buttons don’t have to make a JavaScript call to each source (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to retrieve and display the number of shares. Static buttons load as images and, when clicked on, open a share screen in a new window. This style of buttons has become increasingly popular, so it’s likely that you’ve encountered them on other sites. This change may sound like a bad thing at first, but it means that the new buttons will load much faster than the old ones. It’s much more likely that the static buttons will finish loading while your readers are still on your Hub (which was not always the case with the old-style buttons).
In this initial iteration, the new buttons will not display the share count from each source. However, we are still looking into ways to display the counts without causing a longer load time, so they may be back at some point, pending the results of further testing.
We’ve also added the Google+ sharing option back to Hubs for now, but if readers don’t end up using it, it may not ultimately make the cut. We want whatever decision we make to be backed up by solid data.
Are the new designs final?
While we expect the end result to be similar to the screenshot above, we still intend to test placement and button styles before we settle. If things look slightly different for the next couple weeks, it’s because we’re doing our best to optimize for the most social shares possible. We hope you like the new look as much as we do!
HubPages Blog 
Hey Christy, what’s the point of the H+ button? Is it to share on Hubpages? If yes, do we really need to have another image loading (Not a biggie, but load time will drop a bit without it). Hubbers who want to share will take the time to do it the old way. A button isn’t really necessary I feel.
Hi Brandon,
Yep, the H+ button is for sharing with your HP followers. Since the social aspect is an important part of HubPages for many of our community members, we don’t want to take that option away from Hubbers.
Oh, yes, please keep the H+ button. We cried about it when it was taken away before for a short time. We like sharing hubs with other hubbers! It’s been here for years! The new buttons are fine, but weren’t the old ones of different colors–which made them easier to see. Just a thought.
Hi Christy.
Looks interesting and I’m all for any positive change that is based on evidence.
Is there some other way that we can find out how many shares on the various media we have had for a given hub now that it is not displayed with the buttons? For me, that was VERY useful information in evaluating the kinds of hubs that are most likely to be shared on social media and its absence kinda puts the brakes on my research!
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Mindi,
I know that the social sites store that data (which is why the old buttons took so long– we had to retrieve the counts from each source) but I’m not sure if there’s any easy way to access it yourself. I’ll check with the Engineering Team and get back to you.
Hi Mindi,
Just to get back to you, you can use Like Explorer to find the number of social shares on any Hub. Just input your Hub’s url and it will do the rest. Hope that helps!
Ok cool makes sense 🙂 The design looks good, stands too
Very nice on the new buttons. Thank you Christy and team. Onwards and up !
Hi Christy,
Thanks for that – that does help!
🙂
This collection is very effective which i wes
looking for.
I noticed the new buttons, which I thought looked real cool and noticeable (which I think is good). Sounds like they will be much more beneficial for us and the user.
I am not seeing the new buttons on any Hubs.
Hi Lisa,
We are still testing, so it’s possible that you are part of one of our A/B tests that still shows the original buttons.