Pinterest, Digg Digg, ShareThis, & More…

Okay, not even going there in regards to how long it has been since I have made a post.  In quick defense of that long stretch I had a ten-day vacation followed by half a day of fishing, all of which has been followed by more than enough days spent trying to catch back up at the office.  That being said, it is time to get back to a regular posting schedule, which has not been the case since back in November I believe.  Being it is what I like to call Tech Friday, thought I would share some of what has been going on around here of late behind the scenes with the like of Digg Digg, Pinterest, and some experiments with ShareThis and Wibaya.

First up is the new sharing tool I am using here on Mephistos called Digg Digg.  It is an older product, but if I remember my recent history it has been acquired by the same folks who have the Buffer App tool (which is pretty darn cool if and when I remember to use it).  Anyway, Digg Digg has some cool options as a sharing tool, not the least of which is the ability to display on post or page, either above or below while also allowing for a floating vertical bar to the side.  Really nice features include the ability to make the share tools in each ‘bar’ different and the handy bit that the tool looks to see if there is room to put the vertical bar on the page before displaying, limiting it falling in over top of actual information.  It has complete configuration options for both the size and style of icons the sharing tools, as well as a handing ranking tool to give a specific order.   Lastly, but perhaps most important, it allows for setting for delay loads of those share tools that support such an option, letting your real content load and appear first both for users and search bots.  The one and only drawback I see is the limitation of only having a share tool either at the top of the post/page or at the bottom, but not both (note: you can have it either at the top or bottom and in the vertical floating bar).

Following that, is an honorable mention for Wibaya and their tool bar.  I experimented with and actually ran it for a few weeks here on the site.  Have it say, having a toolbar with several sharing tool, along with several other options always handy at the bottom of the screen as the rest of the text scrolled is a very handy idea.  It is a plug-in configurable toolbar itself, allowing new sharing and other tools to be configured and giving a nice extensibility.  Matter of fact, if it had not been for the happen chance encounter of the Digg Digg plugin for sharing noted above, I would probably have converted to this tool 100%.  It does offer much more than just the sharing tools, including some social media tools for Twitter and Facebook beyond just a share/like option and a huge integration of YouTube tools, as well as lots and lots of metrics and reporting tools.  This is all in the free version, which does require registration.  Keep in mind the even cooler tools and personal branding for the paid version, but it comes at what appears to me to be a higher than expected cost.

Two last notes that are short and sweet.  Given the obvious preference for Digg Digg as a sharing tool and the second choice of the Wibaya toolbar, I am feeling no guilt at my dropping the ShareThis plugin I have used for a number of years.  Continued slow adoption into the share tools available for such things as Google+ (you can add it, but it is a really a manual job and will never match all your other stuff) or Pinterest and the general bulky feeling it has when trying to use it has been the main driving force for the search and eventual change.  The second small mention is in regards to Pinterest itself.  Only kind of my thing, but definitely appeals to the wife and in general a LOT of women like it a lot.  A true innovation in the social networking scene and definitely worth checking it out.  Note the ability to share to that social media site from here now and expect a link to my Pinterest Boards to show up soon, as well as a more in-depth look at the platform itself.

 ** – Image is Pinterest Logo, blown up a bit…