Share Icon

The open source Share Icon is back, after its trace disappearing from the internet for a time. Good on Share This for promoting this project to the community. The spread of this icon, which already is incredibly ubiquitous, will continue.

31 thoughts on “Share Icon

  1. Don’t know if you’ve seen the Geotag Icon yet Matt, but it is related to the Feed Icon, the OPML Icon, and the Share Icon visually and by concept. It’s the youngster of the 4, but has been well received and already adopted by Minimap for Firefox, geoFlock, and the iCab browser with more to follow (including hopefully at least one WordPress mapping plugin). Check it out at http://www.geotagicons.com

  2. Yeah, the more blogs and websites especially web 2.0 inspired services I come across on the web, the more I see this Share icon. I think this shareicon concept is one of the best things they could of done as it really is a good brand awareness technique. The icon is also stylish and looks better that what AddThis has to offer.

    Also, interesting geotag icon there Bruce. I think I’ll have to write these icons as a blog post to give them more exposure.

  3. hmmmm. I know ShareThis.com “threatened” Shareaholic a few months back. Shareaholic used to use this icon. I don’t trust them. They’re not a non-profit like Mozilla.

  4. I am pretty sure the share icon is trademarked… sharethis is claiming so at least. Best to forget about this icon and come together on a royalty free standard. Who will lead the charge (the geotagging icon project is a great one…), but we need the same enthusiasm and commitment to openness as these other icons have enjoyed for a sharing icon.

  5. Didn’t realise it was ever gone. I’ve been using share this on my site for over a year, I don’t know how much use it gets though.

  6. I didn’t realize this sharing icon was a standard. Regardless, I have used it on my site site Alex let the plugin for WP loose. It’s SUPER dope.

    I don’t think it will ever become a “standard” per se as people will always associate the other (bigger) iconography of google, yahoo, etc.

    Still, it’s gotta start somewhere…

  7. Thanks Matt! I’ve seen the icon around the internet before but didn’t know what it was for.

    Well implemented the nice little sharethis, certainly beats have 10 different icons on one line like I’ve seen on some blogs.

  8. I thought opml was open using share and share alike. I wanted to make sure folks didn’t trademark their own creations by expanding on the icon. Is there a better license I should consider?

  9. furthering the case for community marks. sharethis.com is definitely gross, I’m sticking with version 1.4 of the plugin (before alex sold it)

  10. If matt is using a heavily customized version of Galler2 then go matt, tried so hard to get it working with my wordpress and it just wouldnt work. Followed the installation to the ‘T’ but it was a major no go, 2 x index.php = no fun.
    I feel thats the one thing that wordpress is mission, a good quality photo plugin. I heard rumours 2.5 had a built in Gallery?

  11. ShareThis might be okay if you’re writing a blog for tech savvy people, but its implementation of “Email this to a friend” is not clear enough for readers who aren’t hip to the concept of social bookmarks. It’s not clear enough because ShareThis doesn’t look familiar to non-techie readers. If they are planning to share an article they want to see a dead simple “Email to a friend” button.

    It might be best to hide all the social bookmark icons under the ShareThis icon but always display a simple “Email to a friend” icon next to ShareThis.

    Like others in these comments, I’d worry about relying on ShareThis’ good graces. Better to rally around a public domain standard.

  12. Nathan Bowers brings up some excellent facts about the recognizability of the “ShareThis” icon being used widespread. I think people just need to use the “ShareThis” widget if they want this green icon on their page.

    I would really like to see some prominent bloggers (like ma.tt) come out against this evil project. This icon is not open!!!! It is legally owned and rights are reserved people!! SHARETHIS OWNS THIS ICON, NOT THE COMMUNITY… so for god’s sake, can we please start giving at least 1/2 as much attention to that fact, bloggers??

    Furthermore, an icon does not carry with it accessibility issues or keyboard friendly options… again you are talking about the “ShareThis” widget, not just the icon. The widget is very much proprietary… this is all the more reason to support 100% abandonment of the “ShareThis” icon in your own project. We, as a community, need to work together to make our own share icon… one that cannot be sold to a corporation, one that will start as and remain property of the community.

    Shame on “ShareThis” for including the other two icons on their page… they want to make it seem like their little icon was made in the same vein as the other two icons… i think it’s a gross misrepresentation of the facts and i’m getting more and more disturbed with all the blog posting I see about this… and all comes back to you, matt. hehehe… you started this recent wave with this very post. I would be forever in your debt if you would be so kind as to followup with a more enlightening angle on the use of this wholly owned, limited license graphic (and perhaps a short discourse on the difference between a graphic file and a Widget that uses said graphic file).

  13. I am neither prominent nor popular, but knowing that this icon project is not community based will ensure that it keeps it’s distance from my little blogging effort. I’ll continue to provide individual social links for visibility and open standard community awareness. Thanks for the heads-up.

  14. As someone who was asked to stop using the ShareThis Icon by the folks at ShareThis.com (I was using the icon for Shareaholic much before it was acquired by ShareThis), I very strongly believe we as a community need to create an “Share icon” that is made available and distributed in the same spirit and openness as the OPML, Feed, and GeoTag icons.

    Some of us have set the wheels in motion, and will have some concepts for an Open Share Icon to share with the community soon.

    Please stay tuned, and in the mean time please join the Google group we have created for the Open Share Icon Project, to share your ideas!

    http://groups.google.com/group/open-share-icon-project

    Thanks!

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