[biggestfan]

Does anyone even use share buttons? I always just copy the link, and it seems that anyone I see sharing things does the same. It feels more like a way for the social media companies to advertise/track, and those sites have been sending less and less traffic for years, so I wonder why every site still has them.

[afavour]

Yeah, they do. We’ve hooked up analytics to test it in the past and the average user absolutely uses them.

[0x00000000]

tiktok share links also dox you. they have a banner with the name and profile picture of the person that shared it

[troupo]

They also track your friends and acquaintances through shares. Even if you don't give them access to contacts, and don't even use TikTok beyond scrolling through videos, they will start suggesting people who have seen your shares as your friends.

[qingcharles]

Facebook's too.

[hahn-kev]

Yeah I don't know if I've ever used them. Maybe once or twice ever. For me the main problem is UX. Sharing from my platform (copy url on computer, share button on android) is always in the same place. But the share button built in is never in the same place across different websites, how could it be?

[efilife]

They do. I built a file sharing page for friends and most were confused how to share me a link to a file. I implemented the copy url button they asked for and no complaints, even though the url is always visible on every browser they use

[bobbylarrybobby]

On iOS, it is much fast to share with a contact or an app with the share button than by copying and then switching to another app and pasting.

[hombre_fatal]

The TFA is about how to craft a "Share on {ExternalSite}" URL, not a "Share this page" button.

[pabs3]

I only ever click Firefox's email link button, or copy the page link for posting on HN.

[Workaccount2]

People use apps nowadays to do everything, the only way to get links out of apps is share buttons.