Do you use these sharing buttons?

When I want to share something, I always copy the URL and paste it where I want. I've never used buttons for this purpose and I wonder why some bloggers always make sure that they have at least 20 sharing buttons below their posts (sometimes above the content, which makes even less sense). They look silly, and when I see them, not only that I am pissed off because my browser has to load more data, but I also always have the feeling that the owner of the website thinks that I am an idiot, because I need a button in order to do something.

I can understand why there are "Like" and "+1" buttons, which don't require writing any comment about the shared page, but I don't see any good reason to display buttons of all social networks that currently exist.

What is your view on this?

 

Sharing buttons above are weird, they should be at the bottom as people will share an article (or whatever) once they've finished reading (if it's "share-worthy"). I personally have a couple of extensions (Google+ +1 and an email one) for Chrome that I use instead.

I'm not sure they are an idiot, some are just desperate, I think (especially when they provide a lot of share links). This discussion made me think of a very funny comic (I'm sure I have posted it before, sorry!):

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/facebook_likes

 

You should put sharing buttons above the post because the user will see them immediatly.

 

yes, i use social sharing buttons on my websites. don't keep too much have only needful one

 

I don't use their generic buttons for three reasons: if javascript is not enabled in a browser there will be an empty spot where the button should be. Second: the generic buttons just don't look all that great. Third: If one of the social media sites has issues, it will take forever for the generic button to get uploaded and, depending on where that button is located on your page, it may hinder the other stuff from being uploaded also.

By the way, there are many scripts out there allowing you to create easy custom buttons.

For instance:

 
G+:
 
<a href="https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://yoursite.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://yoursite.com/images/g_plus_button.png" border="0"></a>
 
FB:
 
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://yoursite.com" target="_blank">
<img src="http://yoursite.com/images/fb_like_button.png" border="0"></a>
 
Twitter:
 
<a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://yoursite.com&text=Share us on Twitter:" target="_blank"><img src="http://yoursite.com/images/twitter_button.png" border="0"></a>
 

Code (markup):

 

I actually use those buttons but it depends if the content is really worth sharing. Otherwise, I usually just ignore these sharing icons.