If you still like the idea of buttons, but don't want to give up using the vendor-supplied buttons themselves, you can use the "two clicks for more privacy" jQuery plugin[0], which only loads the actual button when the user enables it by clicking a greyed-out placeholder.<p>[0] <a href="http://panzi.github.io/SocialSharePrivacy/" rel="nofollow">http://panzi.github.io/SocialSharePrivacy/</a>
I use WidgetBlock for chrome and since then sites have been blazing fast. I mean it really helps to not have all those stupid share widgets load. It does however break all the share buttons.<p>So using links instead of the widget codes is better for your site (performance wise), privacy wise, and it degrades gracefully when people like me use Widget Blockers.
I don't have an opinion on the core of the article, but this bit at the end is not the best advice from a user experience standpoint.<p>"And I am seriously thinking into serve my own copy of Twitter Bootstrap scripts instead of serving them from the Google Network."<p>The point of using a CDN for common js/css is to serve it as close to your users as possible as well as increase the change that they already have it in their browser cache. Hosting it yourself just means your users have to make more round-trips to wherever in the world your server lives.<p>BTW, Google Hosted Libraries doesn't currently include Twitter Bootstrap. You're using NetDNA's BootstrapCDN.
Facebook has stated that the sharer.php is deprecated. <a href="https://developers.facebook.com/bugs/252983554810810/" rel="nofollow">https://developers.facebook.com/bugs/252983554810810/</a><p>It appears to have an unclear lifespan. While it has been fully replaced by the Feed Dialog, it's still working now and is used all over the internet. I can see the case where it won't see any further development or features, but it's a tough call whether or not to incorporate the deprecated method or accept possible risks of the current methods - Like button or Feed Dialog.
We've been using the same method for quote some time now. Not just for privacy purposes, but also performance-wise all these scripts and iframes are a bit much. Demo and code at <a href="http://simpleshare.schuttelaar.nl/" rel="nofollow">http://simpleshare.schuttelaar.nl/</a>
Those networks can still track user habits by clicking the URL. In one acorn, they will know they came from your site, any user agent information, screen size (via JS on the social network site), if they are logged in they will associate them going to your site even if they decide not to share the URL.<p>The only thing they aren't seeing is additional analytic data they're missing out by not having there JS installed on your site, but its still enough data that they can use on there end for targeting advertisements which is what they are using this data for.
I've recently done this on some client sites - it's far neater than including several sets of js each loading their own support libraries etc. The main reason for doing it was speed (each button makes several requests for js and assets), but it does also obviate serving multiple third-party js files, and protects your users from tracking by Facebook etc. which some of them won't be keen on. It's a shame that FB, Google etc insist on hosted js - a nicer solution would just be a link around one dynamically generated image showing the user the same information, though I guess that could still be used for limited tracking by IP.<p>After trialling the standard js we decided to forgo the dynamic buttons for speed, security and the privacy of our users and use locally hosted images of the buttons or logos with a simple link to the social site. For the readers it's very similar experience, but a much faster solution.
This seems like a great time to plug RequestPolicy:<p><i>"ReuestPolicy is a Firefox extension that improves the privacy and security of your browsing by giving you control over when cross-site requests are allowed by webpages you visit."[1]</i><p>It is even better if you pair it with NoScript.[2] Whenever I toy with the idea of switching to Chrome I am always end up sticking with iceweasel because of the lack of equivalent RP+NS functionality in Chrome. If you are currently using ghostery I highly suggest you switch to RP+NS.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.requestpolicy.com/index.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.requestpolicy.com/index.html</a><p>[2] <a href="http://noscript.net/" rel="nofollow">http://noscript.net/</a>
This is a great write-up with a simple solution - one that I recently realized that I needed.<p>I put the AddThis button block on some of my article pages at the beginning of May. I was getting less click-throughs to my product page, so I started looking into possible causes. The Site Speed reports in Google Analytics showed that my page load times had increased 2-3x. I profiled some of the slower pages and found that the AddThis external call stack can be pretty deep. After removing them, everything's nice and speedy again, and click-throughs are back up to normal levels.
And for share counts <a href="https://gist.github.com/jonathanmoore/2640302" rel="nofollow">https://gist.github.com/jonathanmoore/2640302</a>
I actually agree with this article...from an optimization standpoint. Whenever I've had to integrate paypal, youtube, or even coinbase...I always add the images to my static sprite sheet (to reduce http requests), and will serve a post href link...instead of button code suggested.<p>Even before the whole tracking was exposed, I <i>always</i> hated paypal's 1px blank gif that is integrated in their button code.
I made a similar article recently. I provide a complete block which you could copy/paste on your website directly. It uses javascript to create the right link using the current url.<p><a href="http://yannesposito.com/Scratch/en/blog/Social-link-the-right-way/" rel="nofollow">http://yannesposito.com/Scratch/en/blog/Social-link-the-righ...</a>
Just wanted to chime in with my 2 pennies to say I agree 100% with this article.<p>My feeling is that if social interaction is core enough that it needs to appear on every single page of your site (or at least on core, highly trafficked pages) then the common way of doing this sucks on two levels;<p>1) Depending on other websites to load content? Madness.<p>2) Depending on JavaScript to execute core functionality? Pointless.<p>I have solidified my thoughts better here: <a href="http://tosbourn.com/2013/01/development/replacing-social-media-share-buttons-with-non-javascript-counterparts/" rel="nofollow">http://tosbourn.com/2013/01/development/replacing-social-med...</a><p>I have also written up how you can get the functionality without the JS in this github repo <a href="https://github.com/tosbourn/nojs-socialshare" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/tosbourn/nojs-socialshare</a>
I love how security expert Bruce Schneier (<a href="https://www.schneier.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.schneier.com</a>) has implemented it. This also gives you an ability to see how popular an article is (based on the sharing numbers) if you want, which is another purpose these widgets serve.
There is one downside to share links vs. buttons: visitors can't see how many times the page has already been shared.<p>At <a href="https://starthq.com" rel="nofollow">https://starthq.com</a> we've opted for a half way solution by confining the share buttons to individual iframes. This way we don't prevent the tracking, but do contain their ability to break our page or grab users' data.
In regards to not tracking users...integrating a http request to Google for JQuery, is still tracking users.<p>I always find this ironic about these articles <i>don't track your users</i>, or <i>prism is watching, let's use mailvelope</i>, some of these pages that is promoting privacy, integrates google analytics, have a share button, or some type of off server request.
It occurred to me yesterday how powerful Twitter must be. They must have a good portion of most peoples' web histories, which could sell for a lot in certain markets. This is all just wild speculation, but I also wonder if they made a data-sharing deal with CNN, given CNN's constant Twitter promotion over the years.
The discussion is also relevant for sharing widgets (addthis and friends). If anyone is interested, I wrote about their behavior and how to circumvent them: <a href="http://www.j-ro.me/nixing-the-dataholic-sharing-widgets.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.j-ro.me/nixing-the-dataholic-sharing-widgets.html</a>
In other words it's not buttons in and if themselves that should be avoided (according to the author) but pulling in the widgets from FB, Twitter and G+. You can host the same buttons on your end (really just a picture with a link)
This is about the way I see it these days. Pulling 2, 3, up to 5 outside scripts via sharing widgets is just too much. Much snappier to skip and just link out as the example shows.
"and thus giving them the <i>possibility</i> to track your visitors"<p>This is an understatement. There's no reason for them not to do it - it's fodder for them.
An implementation that uses image maps without scripts:<p><a href="http://www.strchr.com/share_buttons" rel="nofollow">http://www.strchr.com/share_buttons</a>
...and find your click rates plummet.<p>Which is fine if you're OK with that cost. But a lot of users aren't going to notice those links, let alone select them, copy them and paste them.<p>If I already have to copy and paste a link, why not the actual page URL?