Are You Missing the Twitter Share Count Button?
It's been a few weeks now and the Twitter Share Count Button is really gone. It disappeared on a Friday. Some people knew in advance by reading the Twitter blog. Others were taken aback by the move. They were surprised one day to notice on their websites that the share count # went missing. It just disappeared.
Many people in the Twitterverse felt the Twitter Share Count gave them social proof and validated their Twitter presence.
Social proof is also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. ( Social Proof According to Wikipedia)
Social Proof - Is It Enough To Measure?
Does social proof truly measure our content's ability to be read and acted upon? I say NO. What really counts is who reads the content from clicking on the links in their Twitter Feed. Adrian Jock of Adrian Jock's Internet Tips recently wrote about this the other week. He shows the amount of clicks per tweet is a better measurement of our success on Twitter. You can check it out via the Twitter analytics in your Twitter account. (See my sample below).
Are the people that send links to your tweets the best measurement tool you can use for your Twitter Analytics? It's probably the best one thus far today. That's why you are tweeting right? To get people to your blog or website is what counts!
Now if you do Twitter ads you can measure the conversion rate which is another great way to see who is clicking on your paid links in the Twitter feed.
Thanks to my top Twitter linkers above!
Twitter Engagement
How about the tweets with the most engagement? How does it compare? Engagement is key to overall success on Twitter so it must be considered too. You can also see your most engaged tweet like mine below in the Twitter Analytics section of your Twitter account.
8 Ways to Overcome Social Media Burnout Today https://t.co/Zp3nm1ECVy via @Lisapatb
- Melissa Stewart (@MelissaOnline) November 24, 2015
Thank you Melissa for the share!
Top Tweets - Do They Count?
What about your top tweet? It gets engagement and links together. How can we analyze that Twitter data? This one got links and engagement as well as retweets. This can give you clues on what your audience likes to see you tweet about. Analytics like this can replace that Twitter Share Count for you. But only you can see it, not your audience. How will you be able to show your social proof on Twitter now? I think the answer may be that the third party developers at plugins use the TOTAL share count button vs. each individual social network count. Some developers can pay big bucks to get the Twitter count via Gnip. But I think if we really want it - it will cost us in one way or another eventually. Twitter has to make money, right? If you are really against the Twitter Share Count no longer being available you can join the protest on Twitter via the hashtag #SaveOurShareCounts.
So were you surprised to see the Twitter Share Count gone a few Fridays ago?Uproar Over Missing Twitter Share Counts (via @smallbiztrends) https://t.co/QVHT1I2DIP (with @GrowMap @ricktramos) #SaveOurShareCounts - David Leonhardt (@amabaie) November 25, 2015
Are you lost without the share count button or have you not even noticed yet?
Top Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
