Plugin recommendations for social media?

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Gurbir Singh

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Feb 5, 2012, 2:37:14 PM2/5/12
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Hi,

I am looking for a plugin to add buttons and links for the usual social media apps. Actually I will only require  Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and Youtube.

I bumped in to this http://socialtoolbarpro.com/ The free version is good enough for my requirements but if I use it I may go for the pro version ($25) anyway.

Has anyone experience of this? Or used others that they can recommend?

Thanks

Gurbir

Wendy Cockcroft

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Feb 5, 2012, 2:45:08 PM2/5/12
to Manchester WordPress User Group
Hi Gurbir,

I've had a look at it. Actually, an easier and cheaper (but possibly
boring) option would be to use Free HTML and just copy and paste the
code in from Add This's website. You can add your social media buttons
with links to your own social media accounts and/or the Facepile (or
variant thereof) and/or your Twitter widget. That's what I do.

The trouble with plugins is they can slow page loading time so it's
good to see if there are other ways of getting stuff done instead of
uploading yet another plugin. Of course, if you want a fancier option
you might as well go for the plugin.

See an example of my technique here: http://www.acoredt.co.uk

Regards,

Wendy

On Feb 5, 7:37 pm, Gurbir Singh <gur...@gurbir.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am looking for a plugin to add buttons and links for the usual social
> media apps. Actually I will only require  Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and
> Youtube.
>
> I bumped in to thishttp://socialtoolbarpro.com/The free version is good

John Logsdon

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Feb 5, 2012, 3:12:04 PM2/5/12
to manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Hi all

Just about to go away but I have found that Facebook is very heavy on our
blog. Each Like button pulls 24kB in and the Fanpage box is also very
heavy - it loads into an iframe.

I know you can set this up as async loading which makes the visitor experience
better but I have been looking for a better way that just pulls less rubbish
in. Twitter and others are much lighter (but do less of course).

I suspect that pasting in the HTML may be the best way to go but of course if
you put a Like in each post, the shortcode will need to take an argument
which will be the link. It does make it a bit messier for what should really
be a straightforward thing. If the blog writers are not techies, you really
can't use this approach.

--
Best wishes

John Logsdon

Wendy Cockcroft

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Feb 5, 2012, 3:07:34 PM2/5/12
to Manchester WordPress User Group
What if you just put it in the footer widgets or in the sidebar? That
would save on loading, wouldn't it?

On Feb 5, 8:12 pm, John Logsdon <j.logs...@quantex-research.co.uk>
wrote:
> > > I bumped in to thishttp://socialtoolbarpro.com/Thefree version is good

360 Spin - Virtual Tour Photography

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Feb 5, 2012, 3:10:19 PM2/5/12
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Hi Gurbir,

 

I use http://www.shareaholic.com/publishers/get_share_button which has been great! You can configure what you want very easily.

 

Here is an example http://www.campervanhire.com/vw/events-shows/  it get people interacting and sharing quickly.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

Malcolm

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John Logsdon

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Feb 5, 2012, 3:30:54 PM2/5/12
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Hi Wendy

The Fanpage box on the top right is across both sidebars so is only loaded
once.  Take a look at http://www.themoneyprinciple.co.uk - it is always the
last bit to load and then of course if you navigate to another page, it has
to start all over again.  (I know the navigation needs sorting out but that
is all about defining new categories and updating them).

Googe Page Speed says 88% which is not bad but it still is slow to pull that
box in.

John Logsdon

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Feb 5, 2012, 3:31:42 PM2/5/12
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Malcolm

Ah - that's where those little sit-ups come from.  They are a bit twee I
think....  as if they have been found wanting on CBeebies....:-)  Considering
they don't use it themselves (see the bottom of the site below Terms of
Service).

--
Best wishes

John Logsdon

Wendy Cockcroft

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Feb 5, 2012, 3:29:25 PM2/5/12
to Manchester WordPress User Group
Any point in making it smaller? FB is a right pain, as is the Twitter
widget if you add that too. At this point I'd be asking if anyone
knows of a plugin that would either cache your social media widgets
because I don't. Are you using a plugin for this or the Free HTML?

On Feb 5, 8:31 pm, John Logsdon <j.logs...@quantex-research.co.uk>
wrote:
> Malcolm
>
> Ah - that's where those little sit-ups come from.  They are a bit twee I
> think....  as if they have been found wanting on CBeebies....:-)  Considering
> they don't use it themselves (see the bottom of the site below Terms of
> Service).
>
> On Sunday 05 February 2012 20:10:19 360 Spin - Virtual Tour Photography wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi Gurbir,
>
> > I usehttp://www.shareaholic.com/publishers/get_share_buttonwhich has
> > been great! You can configure what you want very easily.
>
> > Here is an examplehttp://www.campervanhire.com/vw/events-shows/ it get
> > people interacting and sharing quickly.
>
> > Kind Regards,
>
> > Malcolm
>
> > From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
> > [mailto:manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
> > Gurbir Singh
> > Sent: 05 February 2012 19:37
> > To: manchester-wordpress-user-group
> > Subject: [MWUG] Plugin recommendations for social media?
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I am looking for a plugin to add buttons and links for the usual social
> > media apps. Actually I will only require  Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and
> > Youtube.
>
> > I bumped in to thishttp://socialtoolbarpro.com/The free version is
> > good enough for my requirements but if I use it I may go for the pro
> > version ($25) anyway.
>
> > Has anyone experience of this? Or used others that they can recommend?
>
> > Thanks
>
> > Gurbir
>
> > --
> > See the group blog athttp://mwug.info

Mike Little

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Feb 5, 2012, 5:42:25 PM2/5/12
to manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Gurbir,

If you are just looking for links to your social media pages, that is, your twitter page, facebook page, etc. to go in your sidebar, I recommend the social media profiles plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/social-profiles-widget/). Very simple.

But if you are looking for tweet this, share on facebook, etc. type functionality for each post and/or page, I recommend the sharedaddy part of Jetpack. 


Mike
--
Mike Little
http://zed1.com/

Mike Little

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Feb 5, 2012, 5:55:58 PM2/5/12
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On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 19:45, Wendy Cockcroft <in...@wendycockcroftwebdesign.co.uk> wrote:
Hi Gurbir,

I've had a look at it. Actually, an easier and cheaper (but possibly
boring) option would be to use Free HTML and just copy and paste the
code in from Add This's website. You can add your social media buttons
with links to your own social media accounts and/or the Facepile (or
variant thereof) and/or your Twitter widget. That's what I do.

The trouble with plugins is they can slow page loading time so it's
good to see if there are other ways of getting stuff done instead of
uploading yet another plugin. Of course, if you want a fancier option
you might as well go for the plugin.


Hi Wendy, 
There are many tens of thousands of plugins, and whilst some do slow down page loading times, many do not in any significant way. 

In particular, a plugin like the social media profiles one, I've just suggested, has a negligible effect on page load times. It simple allows you to specify the destination urls, and generates html inks with images. 

It also means that a non-technical user doesn't need to try to modify his theme, and most importantly, he can update his theme when a new version comes out, without any risk of losing customisations.

Mike

Wendy Cockcroft

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Feb 5, 2012, 5:58:27 PM2/5/12
to Manchester WordPress User Group
Ah, I didn't know that. I'd been told that plugins slow page loading
and just accepted it. That's what I get for generalizing!

On Feb 5, 10:55 pm, Mike Little <m...@zed1.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 19:45, Wendy Cockcroft <
>

Mike Little

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Feb 5, 2012, 6:08:02 PM2/5/12
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On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 22:58, Wendy Cockcroft <in...@wendycockcroftwebdesign.co.uk> wrote:
Ah, I didn't know that. I'd been told that plugins slow page loading
and just accepted it. That's what I get for generalizing!


Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths about WordPress like that, another one is that revisions slow down your site. 

Maybe I should think of a few I've heard and add it as an item to the agenda for this months meeting.

Speaking of which I'd better put one together....


Mike

Wendy Cockcroft

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Feb 5, 2012, 6:09:39 PM2/5/12
to Manchester WordPress User Group
Please do that; it's one of those things I need to learn.

On Feb 5, 11:08 pm, Mike Little <m...@zed1.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 22:58, Wendy Cockcroft <
>

Gurbir Singh

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Feb 5, 2012, 7:21:53 PM2/5/12
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Wendy, John, Malcolm, Mike,

Thanks a heap for your responses.

I look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting.

Gurbir



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See the group blog at http://mwug.info

Azzam Sheikh

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Feb 6, 2012, 3:01:42 AM2/6/12
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Hi Wendy,

If you are looking for social media profile displays only thenthen check out a plugin I did called socialprofilr in the repository of WordPress.

Azzam

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