The amount of content on the internet grows every second of every day. As I post this blog, there are thousands of others doing the exact same thing. Many of those “bloggers” are likely contributing their own opinions or even new facts to the web. You might stumble upon these blogs or ideas in a number of ways: Facebook, Twitter, Google searches, JumpstartMyPC.com, etc. Occasionally you are going to come across an article or blog post that you really want to share with a friend. What then?
Until recently, people have shared web site addresses (URL’s) via email or even verbally. With the success of Facebook and Twitter, millions have found new ways to share information with friends and family. And now, there are hundreds of sites that allow you to quickly share information with others on their “network.” There is one tool however that combines all of these ideas and more. That tool is ShareThis.
ShareThis is a web site and/or a tool you can use to share links with others. It is very easy to use and does some incredible things. After reading this article, you will no doubt become aware of how often you actually see the ShareThis icon. It is available on thousands of internet sites, blogs and can even be a part of your browser (Explorer, Firefox or even Chrome). I have tested this service for months and I cannot imagine life without it now.
Here is how it works.
Option 1: You are “surfing” the web and come across something you want to share with Aunt Mary. You notice the ShareThis icon on the page and click it. The handy-dandy ShareThis pop-up box opens and you select the method in which you want to share this information with Aunt Mary. Options include email, text, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace… You know Aunt Mary is not very computer literate, but she checks her email, so you select email, type in “M” to bring up Mary from your pre-populated list of friends, enter a message and click Send. Mary receives an email moments later. Time to complete: 15 seconds.
ShareThis Pop-Up Box
Option 2: Just like in Option 1, you find something you want to share. Only this time, there is no ShareThis icon on the page and you want to share it with everyone on your Facebook friends list. No worries, you have already installed the ShareThis “button” in your browser. You click on the button (now found at the top of your screen, near the search box) and see your standard ShareThis pop-up box. You select Facebook (which opens a new tab or window, with your Facebook “Post to Profile” page), enter a message and click Share. Your post is complete and your friends can now see the link you posted, along with a picture and pre-filled description of what the link is. Time to complete: 15 seconds.
As with any other service, there are a few things you will need to do to get started. The ShareThis web site is easy to follow and guides you through these steps perfectly. My recommendation is that you go ahead and install the ShareThis button (takes 30 seconds) and import your contact list (time varies), after you register (1 minute). Go ahead and try it today. You’ll notice that we have added the ShareThis button to every page on our site, as well as each and every article we post.
ShareThis article with your friends and family. It’ll be a great way to test the service and we would appreciate the link back to our site.
