ShareThis Blog

Weekly Top Shares 2-3-12

February 3rd, 2012

It’s always interesting to see what our loyal sharers are circulating each week and this past one didn’t fail to deliver. A healthy dose of politics, not to mention the ubiquitous dash of dating advice, joined less evergreen topics to the ShareThis roster of top shared items, such as autism and the state of education. Shall we dive in?

A blistering attack on the federal No Child Left Behind law, and the mindset around that particular piece of legislation, led the pack. In an article entitled “In what other profession…” that ran on the Examiner.com, a high school biology teacher from Kansas blasted the “armchair educators and anti-teacher, anti-public school evangelists” so quick to place blame on the teacher when the students fail to make the grade. True to the article’s title, the author begins a series of questions with “In what other profession…” followed with statements that wouldn’t pass as acceptable in other lines of work, culminating in the following: “If a poverty-stricken, drug-addled meth-cooker burns down his house, suffers third degree burns, and then goes to jail; we don’t blame the police, fire department, doctors, and defense attorneys for his predicament. But if that kid doesn’t graduate high school, it’s clearly the teacher’s fault.” Just a little something to think about as we mark this 10th anniversary of the federal law, praised at the time as one of George Bush’s finest accomplishments.

In an unusual break from the top shared content around the Web, a website called Autism Speaks was one of the most highly shared sites of the week. With six out of every 1,000 children estimated to have the disorder in some capacity and symptoms showing up in children as young as only a year old, knowing the “red flags” are crucial. These early signs include no words by 16 months, loss of speech and lack of warmth, among others. Early intervention may be a child’s best hope, the article points out. For more information about autism, visit http://www.autismspeaks.org/.

While some parents are praying for healthy, happy children, Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal is praying that the Obama children are left fatherless, or something along those lines. Apparently, the Republican sent around an email asking his fellow Republicans to pray for Barack Obama’s death, not a very polite or patriotic move, if you ask us. In his note encouraging his peers to pray Psalm 109 with Obama in mind – the psalm is considered a prayer for vengeance and the death of a leader, O’Neal wrote: “At last – I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up – it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN? AMEN!!!!!!” Wow.

And finally, we’ve begun a tradition of kicking your weekends off with a little advice for your love life and we’re not about to let you down this week. A recent Match.com survey asking men what they have to have in their relationships revealed a few answers that might surprise. Instead of the superficial attributes the male of the species often gets a bad rap for valuing above all else, these sensitive men expressed a desire for something more in their relationships. For some, it’s a feeling of self-worth; others, it’s simply having someone to laugh at their jokes. Whatever does it for you, make sure you don’t lose sight as you’re on the prowl for that special someone. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we wouldn’t want anyone to have to spend it alone. Happy Friday!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter! We love to share, and we share the love!

Why Use ShareThis?

February 2nd, 2012

What are the benefits of signing up with ShareThis? Well…what are the benefits of the bread slicer! What are the benefits of pasteurization! We might as well ask these other questions too, because there are just too many answers to list. But, in all seriousness, here are a few to wet your whistle:

1) Store your sharing preferences for faster sharing to your social networks.

2) Get one-click sharing with FastShare from ShareThis.

3) See your shares along with useful analytics such as number of views and clickbacks on your shares.

4) See the most popular shares from your networks, and ours.

If you are a publisher, you get other useful features as well such as Domain Analytics for your domains which displays the sharing activity on your site, and many, many more.

There are two ways to sign-up with ShareThis:

1) You can create a ShareThis account at http://sharethis.com/register by simply providing your email and choosing a password to login later on.

2) You can simply login to ShareThis using any of the OAuth services that ShareThis supports. Currently, we allow you to use your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google, or LinkedIn accounts to login.

Once logged in, users have the ability to link other OAuth services to their account. There are two major benefits to performing such linking:

1) One-Click sharing to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with FastShare from ShareThis.

2) More login options; You can login using any of the linked OAuth services and you will be signed in to the same ShareThis account.

When you perform sign-in using an OAuth service such as Facebook; our account login system performs several checks:

1) Check if this OAuth service is already linked to a ShareThis account; if yes, use that account to sign-in.

2) If the OAuth service has not been linked to a ShareThis account, we check to see if the email associated with this OAuth service has a ShareThis account registered with us. If yes, the existing ShareThis account is used to sign-in and the current OAuth service which you just used is linked to that account.

The reason we perform this linking is that our system detected that you are the same user who created an account with ShareThis earlier because the email from the ShareThis account matched with the email we received from the OAuth service.

3) If no earlier linking or an existing ShareThis account is found for this email, a new account will be created for you.

If you try to link an OAuth service which is currently linked to another ShareThis account. You will be presented with the following prompt:

The Merge Account button removes the old linking and links the OAuth service to your current account. The Switch Account button will log you into the old account.

We hope you are enjoying our smart login and OAuth account linking systems and find them useful. Feel free to send me any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions.

by, Tejinder Aulakh, Software Engineer, ShareThis, Inc.

Twitter: @hiTejinder

Weekly Top Shares 1-27-12

January 27th, 2012

PIPA, SOPA, Obama and…true love are the topics that dominated this week’s list of top-shared content. True, one of these things is not like the other, but secrets revealed in this week’s final article doesn’t make it any less earth-shattering. No skipping ahead. Let’s dive in.

Our first story brings us to a lengthy editorial that expresses something like love for our current president. “If I sound biased, that’s because I am,” writes Daily Beast contributor Andrew Sullivan in a column entitled “How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics.” “Biased toward the actual record, not the spin; biased toward a president who has conducted himself with grace and calm under incredible pressure, who has had to manage crises not seen since the Second World War and the Depression, and who as yet has not had a single significant scandal to his name.” As the last months of the campaign unfold, it will be interesting to see the attacks Obama’s opponents mount against him, and how he fights back.

In a crowd-pleasing move, Obama spoke out against the Stop Online Piracy Act, a move that put a nail in the coffin of the unpopular bill. A collective cheer went up last week when the House agreed to push the bill off another month after receiving feedback that the White House would likely veto the bill. Soon after, the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) pulled the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” In a nutshell, SOPA takes aim at online piracy, albeit in a rather obtuse fashion, by preventing search engines such as Google and Yahoo from turning up results for websites that distribute stolen content. The implications of the bill are vast, and it’s unlikely to pass unless more narrowly focused. Another bill, the Protect IP Act, follows close on the heels of SOPA, and similar attempts to combat online piracy aren’t likely to go away any time soon. Though we wouldn’t dare throw our hat into this muddled ring, especially not in the context of this lighthearted blog post, we’d like to point out that we always support sharing, using the legal channels of course.

And finally, we leave you with a bit of romantic advice to get your weekends in gear. According to this widely shared Match.com article, entitled “How to attract true love your way,” the best way to find an appropriate mate is by first looking inward. Sounds a bit narcissistic – top tips include writing yourself a love letter and our personal favorite, “creating a collage of lifelong dreams and writing the story of one’s life as if it were a fairy tale that ends with all of your wishes fulfilled” – but we’ll try anything once! Apparently, many of us are so focused on finding love that we’re overlooking the possibility that it might come naturally given the right circumstances. The hard part: you have to create those circumstances. So as much as we love sharing, don’t think you’re going to find your soul mate sitting in front of your computer at night sharing stories about cute puppies with your grandmother. Everything in moderation, we say.

Enjoy your weekends, and don’t forget to clear some room for a little love in your life. Happy Friday!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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ShareThis Attends 2012 International CES

January 24th, 2012

The hysteria and coverage has waned, but I still can’t stop thinking about The International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES as it is more informally known. The greatest, annual “Show and Tell” class in history. If you are in the technology business, and have something new to talk about, then this is the place to be.

This year, CES’s 44^th, marked the biggest, and greenest, ever with over 3,100 exhibitors, 15 product categories, including Sustainable Planet TechZone Technology, and 1.86 million square feet of exhibit space. There was a record level of traffic this year as well with an estimated 153,000 attendees, including 34,000 from countries other than the United States.

There were over 20,000 brand new products launched this year, and we saw keynote sessions and participation from top executives of cutting edge companies such as Qualcomm, Mercedes, Intel, Ford, Verizon, Uniliver, eBay, GE, Google, Facebook, and many more.

One growing aspect of CES is the social media factor. This year above all was by far the most social of all the past 43 years combined. There were video teams everywhere. There were bloggers everywhere. There were live feeds to CNET, Spike TV, G4, AOL, Yahoo!, Mashable, TechCrunch, ESPN, and many more. There were more tweets sent this year than all other years combined. There were more Facebook updates than ever before. And for the first time, one could almost virtually attend CES from the comfort of their own home or office; watch for that next year by the way, perhaps even from ShareThis. Hmmm. That has me thinking.

Some of the most impressive products on display this year were in the home entertainment category, and we were absolutely blown away by the OLED Televisions, especially, the 55” LG OLED 3D Smart TV. This razor thin, crystal clear screen took best in show in almost all reviews, and we totally agree. It was a most amazing visual experience for sure.

Another area that seemed to steal the show was the automotive technology category. The smart factor in the design of cars has been on the rise over the last few years, but 2012 will prove to be the beginning of the “next level”. We saw cars that read to you, cars that text you, cars that sense danger seconds faster than the human brain, cars that sync with your home and office computers, and cars that charge themselves overnight from your garage floor.

And of course, who could leave out the entertainment factor of CES! We were in Las Vegas after all. And although some of the stories will have to remain in Las Vegas, we can share a few of the experiences with you. ShareThis teamed up with SMG, Starcom Media Group, on Wednesday night at BESO, to host a late night gathering of Advertising and Agency friends who were in town. It was great to see everyone, if even just for a few hours. But our paths crossed all week at other events like MashBash at 1Oak Nightclub, the Official CES TweetUp at the Hilton, the SONY/FORD party at The Bank Nightclub with DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the I<3Radio party at Haze Nightclub with Will.I.Am and DJ Scribble. We saw way more celebrities this year as well. Justin Timberlake, 50 Cent, Justin Beiber, Ludacris, Tom Hanks, and Wayne Brady, just to name a few, were all in Vegas for the week to help push products or original content that will be hitting the market this year.

If you haven’t already seen our CES Facebook album, please visit the link to see the show from our point of view. As always your comments are welcomed and we look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.

See you next year at CES!

By, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Weekly Top Shares 1-20-12

January 20th, 2012

What used to be staples of the top shared sites around the web – recipes, quick fitness fixes and dating advice – are now transforming into a good mix of humor and introspection in the New Year. Let’s dive in.

We kick off with a hilarious, and surprisingly well-choreographed, surprise performance by a Florida groom to the tune of Justin Beiber’s hit single, “Baby.” Surprised is the least you could say about the bride when her new husband broke into song and dance, complete with props and backup dancers, in this video on ThePostGame. We never really considered Beiber to be a composer for the ages but, as the story points out, this rendition will go down in history, and the new family’s archives, as one of the most memorable.

Moving right along, we turn to an article that is neither funny nor entertaining, but highly circulated nonetheless. In a Weekly Standard post entitled “Allen West on the Marines Incident: ‘Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell,’” we catch a glimpse of an excerpt from an email authored by the Republican congressman from Florida. His email refers to a particularly controversial incident captured on tape in which several U.S. Marines urinated on Taliban corpses. While Rep. West does not seem to condone what they did, he ends his argument pointedly: “As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.” Love it or hate it, you can see why this was one of the top shared stories this week.

On to something warmer and fuzzier, a fresh take on parenthood also dominated the weekly list of online favorites. In “2011 Lesson #2: Don’t Carpe Diem,” the blogger behind popular mom blog Momastery takes an alternative viewpoint to the constant reminders that she should “seize the day” and enjoy every moment of child rearing. A bit hard to do when “Amma (her daughter during a recent shopping expedition) had swiped a bra from the cart and arranged it over her sweater, while sucking a lollipop undoubtedly found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair.” While she may not savor every moment of parental servitude, the author takes pleasure in the fleeting moments that remind her of why the sleepless nights and exhausting days are all worth it. A nice reminder for any parent on the value of putting it all in perspective.

A few New Years tips to take to heart are all covered in the simple diagrams in this next Forbes column. In “How To Be More Interesting (In 10 Simple Steps),” contributor Jessica Hagy advises her readers on 10 basic steps to a more interesting existence. Our favorites: grow a pair, hop off the bandwagon, minimize the swagger and – of course – share what you discover. Looks like our loyal readers and sharers have already got the last one under control, so we wish you luck on the rest!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

For updates, information, and general monkey business, follow us on Twitter: @ShareThis and like us on Facebook: /ShareThis

Weekly Top Shares 1-13-12

January 13th, 2012

So it begins – after the euphoria of the New Year come introspection and frantic attempts at self-betterment. Everyone’s trying to get in shape quickly, be more interesting, have some perspective on the past year, and on and on. Of course, there was also no shortage of folks making apocalyptic predictions. And in this day and age, the end of the world doesn’t come in the form of hellfire raining down upon us, the rapture or anything quite so dramatic. If the Weekly World News is to be believed (and who wouldn’t trust that venerable supermarket-checkstand staple of tabloids and absurdia?), the world will end on March 15. When Facebook shuts down. Or so they claim. We’ll let you read the “facts” and make your own judgements.

In slightly less apocalyptic news, 7-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams is going vegan. The famously muscle-bound tennis dynamo has switched to an all-raw diet of fruits, veggies, grains and nuts in her battle against a debilitating immune disorder she’s been stricken with. It remains to be seen how effective this strategy will be, but if there are vegan bodybuilders, we don’t see why there couldn’t be a vegan tennis champion.

Anyone who’s ever puzzled through the vagaries of a second language will appreciate this compendium of English pronounciations. Seriously, native English speakers are lucky not to have to figure out why “bought” is pronounced differently than “drought”. Or why the “rps” is silent in “corps” but not in “corpse”. Or why “hyphen” rhymes with “roughen”. Given how many inconsistencies there are, it’s a surprise anyone at all is even semi-literate these days. Take a look through the whole list and see if there are any words that stop you in your tracks. We’ll leave you to it, at least until the next installment of top shares.

Happy Friday the 13th!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Like us on Facebook: /ShareThis

Weekly Top Shares 1-6-12

January 6th, 2012

Call it a Christmas miracle, but one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world has decided to start handing out free diplomas. They don’t carry quite the same weight as one you’d pay for from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but the certificate, as they’re calling it, comes pretty darn close. The online learning initiative, M.I.T.x, will offer online classes for free to anyone in the world. It’s a trend that’s catching on – Stanford and Princeton have similar programs – that, as this highly shared Forbes article points out, is guaranteed to “scramble the worldview” of anyone decrying the social injustice of college tuition.

From a Christmas miracle to a Christmas curse, HBO’s Bill Maher let loose a scathing tweet aimed at Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow after a particularly poor performance against Buffalo. The tweet, which speaks entirely for itself and can be viewed here, offended plenty of Tebow fans, who retaliated by canceling their HBO subscriptions. While we love sharing, this may qualify as an overshare. Still, Maher’s show is set to return Jan. 13.

After his verbal attack aimed at Tebow, Maher may want to don some of the body armor described in another one of our top-shared stories of the week. According to this article from ThePostGame, “Oregon’s Rose Bowl Unis Channel Darth Vader,” Oregon debuted Nike’s latest Pro Combat gear at last weekend’s Rose Bowl against Wisconsin. Not sure if it was the force that was with them, the snazzy uniforms or just plain better skills, but they claimed their prize last weekend in Pasadena.

And finally, this top story by Forbes has been in the running for a couple weeks now. Maybe it’s all the New Year’s resolutions to find a better job that’s keeping “Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent” as one of the most widely circulated stories of the week, but hopefully large companies will take a closer look at some of these common faux pas. It looks like plenty of talent and resources are wasted when companies don’t take the time to value their best assets. Hopefully we’ll be seeing less of this in 2012 and here’s to the New Year!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Join the conversation on Facebook: /ShareThis

Weekly Top Shares 12-30-11

December 30th, 2011

California’s Yosemite National Park receives over 4,000,000 visitors annually. They come to camp, hike and enjoy the unspoiled vistas. Dean Potter, one recent and exceptional visitor to the park, had other things in mind. The man is a highliner. Don’t know what that is? Why, it’s a sporting term for “nutjob who risks his life walking tightropes at ridiculous heights.” Which is precisely what he did in t his heart-stopping video of his latest exploits over a 3,000-ft gorge in Yosemite. Watch it and live the death-defying feat vicariously from the comfort of your couch.

Or if you’re reading this in the office at the tail end of a lazy end-of-year work week, why not really kick back and enjoy some brain candy? Like this video of a runaway cart mowing down a football coach midfield. Or this clip of a FedEx employee who surely is enjoying some extended idle time after an exceptionally careless Christmas delivery. Or this article, which really takes the cake for best non-made-up headline imaginable: Police: Man ate cocaine hidden in brother’s buttocks, dies shortly after. The truth truly is stranger than fiction sometimes.

On a more serious note, much career advice was passed around this week. Perhaps some of us are in pensive moods, pondering our our professional New Year’s resolutions. What could those be? If you’re a manager, perhaps you’re interested in how to keep your top performers from jumping ship. If you’re a striver, you may be on the market for leadership tips. And we could all use some pointers on how to be more focused and productive.

Thus concludes the last Weekly Top Shares post of 2011 – we’ll leave you with one last look back at the year in pictures and well wishes for the New Year. Thanks for all the sharing, you’ve made the world a better place.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Like us on Facebook: /ShareThis

Weekly Top Shares 12-23-11

December 23rd, 2011

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the country ShareThis users were sharing about…absolutely nothing that had anything even remotely to do with the holidays. No wintry recipes, no tips on how to burn the fat once next week rolls around, no last minute gift ideas. So what were they sharing about, you ask? Oddly enough, Bernie Sanders. Again.

The U.S. senator’s petition supporting a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision took the prize again for the most shared piece of content this past week. Ho ho ho! With more than 15,000 shares in a week alone, the bill may be a reflection of the American people’s mind-set this holiday season, that large corporations don’t have the same rights as regular Joes. Wonder if this stance will be any indication of holiday spending patterns this year. We shall see.

On to our next top shared story of the week, a Forbes article entitled “Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent,” authored by Forbes contributor Eric Jackson. In case you couldn’t tell from the title, it’s a roundup of the most common mistakes big companies make that results in losing the cream of the crop. Nothing earth-shattering here, but still a reminder that companies, large or small, should be more cognizant of their employees talents, the value they bring to the company, their chances for advancement, and their desire for an candid review each year. Companies should take note. These are great resolutions for the New Year.

Luckily for Tony Nelin and Timmy Ryan, two Chicago area 20 year olds, they won’t be spending their New Year behind bars. The pair convinced an accomplice working for the fire department to loan them a 250 feet length of fire hose, which they hooked up to a nearby school fire hydrant to form a homemade backyard hockey rink. The only thing Christmassy about this story is the wintry mischief and the ice. The duo ended up stealing an estimated 26,000 gallons of water, which will only cost about $130 to repay, but may land them a hefty lump of coal in their stocking this year.

What started off as an inspiring speech delivered by President Obama spiraled into a heated back and forth between bloggers across the web and readers of a controversial post authored by Forbes contributor Gene Marks entitled “If I Were A Poor Black Kid.” The problem seems to be that Marks is not, in fact, a poor black kid, but rather a middle-aged, middle-class white man and this fact stirred some deep emotions in his readers this past week. The post gives tips for how impoverished black children make good for themselves. The list includes tips such as using tech tools to get homework help to befriending guidance counselors, all great advice. The thing is, it’s unclear as to the point of this post, because we’re not sure how many poor, inner-city children are trolling Forbes.com for life tips. Seems tough to do when you’re thinking about how to find your next meal or, you know, not getting evicted because your mother didn’t pay the rent.

An odd holiday mashup indeed. Nonetheless, we wish all our sharers a very happy holiday. Tis the season for sharing!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Like us on Facebook: /ShareThis

Weekly Top Shares 12-16-11

December 16th, 2011

From the looks of their sharing habits this week, ShareThis users were feeling political, righteous and healthcare-conscious, with a dash of humor thrown in for good measure. Let’s see what fueled the past week’s world of sharing.

Health insurance companies found themselves in quite a pickle recently when the Department of Health & Human Services released guidelines governing what will qualify as a medical expense for purposes of meeting a requirement outlined in Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The act requires that insurers spend 80 percent of the money they collect in the form of consumers’ premiums on the actual medical services for which consumers are paying, rather than overhead. It’s no easy task trying to turn a hefty profit while spending such a whopping amount on actual medical care, points out Forbes contributor Rick Ungar in “The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!” Think the title of Ungar’s article alone gives readers a pretty good idea of where he stands on the issue…

Since we’re on the topic of Obama’s actions in office, might as well mention this top shared Forbes story from the past week: “The National Defense Authorization Act is the Greatest Threat to Civil Liberties Americans Face.” The act is an eye opener, stating that domestic and terror investigations and interrogations will be placed into the hands of the military. “So much for innocent until proven guilty,” writes Forbes contributor E.D. Kain. “So much for limited government. What Americans are now facing is quite literally the end of the line.” Proposed by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., the act has major implications for the future of how accused terrorists are handled in the future.

Once again, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has captured the attention of the American people, this time, with a petition that supports a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision, a landmark ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010. The decision upholds the argument that the First Amendment prohibits government from censoring political broadcasts in candidate elections when those broadcasts are funded by corporations or unions. Sen. Sanders’ proposed legislation, the Saving American Democracy Amendment, offers a rebuttal, arguing that corporations should not be guaranteed the same rights as actual people. Maybe so, but they sure have deeper pockets, which may help them keep the upper hand.

Switching gears entirely, we (well anyone with a smartphone) have all been there – quickly tapping out a text without taking a second to proofread. Seriously, who proofreads text messages anyway? Given some of these hilarious, and mortifying, text message blunders courtesy of autocorrect and compiled by Mashable, maybe more of us should start! We’ll just go ahead and let the texts do the talking…

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

Like us on Facebook: /ShareThis

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