Twitter has recently announced plans to remove the share count customarily visible next to its 'share' buttons, for a long time a measurable 'proof' of viewer sharing activity for web pages and blogs or other content containing social media share buttons.
This significant yet imminent redesign of Twitter's share buttons has sent shock waves throughout the internet community with mixed response depending on user perspective ranging from surprise, confusion, anger and trepidation as to the reasons behind this move (not yet fully divulged by the social media giant) and the ramifications for this unexpected change.
Share counts have been a standard metric of the social media share button applications and the sudden removal of Twitter's share count could have far-reaching implications in terms of social media metrics. Speculation is rampant that such a move will adversely affect website and blog traffic where visitor engagement is often in large part, at least initially, determined by what visitors see in share counts which in turn influences the determination of a site's usefulness and authority level. As an extension to this concern a new reality may be diminished viewer sharing activity given a perceived lesser significance to the share button.
Web owners and marketing experts have used Twitter share analytics extensively as a comparative gauge to visitor value share in relation to targeted marketing and user preferences on a broad spectrum globally. The question now remains just what kind of social media 'proof' fallout will ensue as the change is rolled out.
Much of the current buzz about this count elimination centers around Twitter's reasons and motivation for such a change, in large part pointing to revenue factors. Is the change indeed a revenue driven decision? Is there a correlation with Facebook share count metrics at play here?
Reportedly, Twitter's market share values have diminished significantly, some 37% reduction since January, 2014. That is a substantial indicator of troubling times for the social media giant and speculation has been swift, ranging from fear to a wait and see reaction.
The most immediate concern that surfaces from the dropping of the share count is the impact it will have on accessibility to social media analytics which could in turn be significantly reduced. Will the other social media giants reciprocate with their own share platforms. End users are unsettled by the potential consequences of this move including an anticipated significant rise in the cost of acquiring social engagement online. The share counts have long been a relative gauge of how well web content resonates with our visiting and reading audience.
Weighing in on the share count removal are WarfarePlugins.com and SmallBizTrends.com . At this stage Twitter's comments in relation to this move have been limited and we'll just have to wait to see what the implications are in terms of what impact this change will have on a broad scale. Change is not necessarily a bad thing and often highly positive in nature. The absence of anything substantive from Twitter at this point raises many questions yet to be answered.
Whether this move to eliminate share count on the part of Twitter is primarily financial or there are other significant factors at play remains to be seen. One thing would appear imminent...more changes on the horizon for social media metrics which continue to play an important role in how we engage and interact on the internet today and moving forward well into the future.