Social share buttons for WordPress, explained step by step

Everything about social share buttons on WordPress: adding them, choosing networks, sticky bars, mobile, styling, speed, privacy and short links.

1. 01How to add social share buttons to WordPressAdd social share buttons to WordPress with a plugin, a block, or plain links in your theme. Placement, networks, counts and the checks to run afterwards.4 min read
2. 02Which share networks to show, and how manyHow to choose which social share buttons to display: match networks to your audience, keep the row short, and add copy link, email and messaging options.3 min read
3. 03Sticky and floating share bars: when they helpSticky share bars and floating sidebars keep buttons visible while readers scroll. Where to place them, when they hurt, and how to avoid layout shift.3 min read
4. 04Share buttons on mobile: layout, size and native sharingMake share buttons work on phones: tap target sizes, one-line rows, bottom bars, the native share sheet, and how to show different buttons on small screens.3 min read
5. 05Highlight to share: letting readers share selected textHighlight to share lets readers select a sentence and share it with a link back. How it works, when it helps, accessibility concerns, and a lightweight setup.3 min read
6. 06Click to tweet boxes: how to build them in WordPressBuild a click to tweet box in WordPress with a block or a simple link. Wording, the 280 character limit, how links are counted, and how to style the quote.3 min read
7. 07Follow prompts, like bars and share popupsAfter-share follow prompts, Facebook like bars and share popups: what they were, which still work, and how to ask for a follow without annoying readers.3 min read
8. 08Styling share buttons with CSSStyle WordPress share buttons with CSS: override colours and text safely, keep focus states, use one icon style, and match your theme in both modes.3 min read
9. 09Share buttons and page speedWhy some share buttons slow WordPress pages and others cost almost nothing. How to measure the impact, and what to change to keep sharing fast on every page.3 min read
10. 10Share buttons and GDPR: what needs consentWhich share buttons need consent under GDPR and ePrivacy rules, why plain share links usually do not, the two-click pattern, and privacy policy wording.3 min read
11. 11Bitly short links for share buttons: getting an access tokenHow to get a Bitly access token for your WordPress share buttons, where to paste it, why short links fail, and when you do not need short links at all.3 min read

How social share counters get their numbers, why counts break or disagree, Facebook access tokens and app IDs, the Graph API, and tracking shares yourself.

1. 12How share counts work, and why most networks stoppedHow Facebook and other networks calculate share counts, why X, LinkedIn and others removed them, what a share counter really shows, and how plugins fetch it.3 min read
2. 13Facebook share count: getting it from the Graph APIHow to get the Facebook share count for a URL from the Graph API, why the old REST API stopped working, rate limits, and how plugins should cache the result.3 min read
3. 14Share count not updating or not accurate: a fix listShare counts stuck at zero or wrong? Work through tokens, caches, cron, URL variants and rate limits in order, and why you should never add fake shares.3 min read
4. 15How to create a Facebook access tokenCreate the right Facebook access token for share counts and plugins: user, page and app tokens compared, how long each lasts, and how to keep the token safe.3 min read
5. 16How to create a Facebook app IDCreate a Facebook app ID for share counts, the fb:app_id tag and sharing plugins: the dashboard steps, the settings that matter, and vanishing like buttons.3 min read
6. 17Tracking shares and pageviews in analyticsTrack share button clicks as analytics events, tag shared links with campaign parameters, and read shared traffic in referrer reports without cookies.3 min read

Open Graph tags decide the title, text and image networks show when your pages are shared. Setup in WordPress, image sizes, Twitter cards and wrong previews.

1. 18Adding Open Graph tags in WordPressAdd Open Graph tags to WordPress with an SEO plugin or theme code: the four required tags, image tags, per-post overrides, and how to avoid duplicate tags.3 min read
2. 19Facebook showing the wrong image or share textFix Facebook showing the wrong image or text when you share a WordPress post: duplicate tags, small images, cache, blocked crawlers, and the Sharing Debugger.3 min read
3. 20Twitter cards on X: tags and testingSet up Twitter card tags so links to your WordPress posts show a large image on X: the summary_large_image card, fallbacks to Open Graph, sizes and testing.3 min read
4. 21Open Graph image size: 1200 by 630 and the safe zoneThe right Open Graph image size is 1200 by 630 pixels at a 1.91:1 ratio. Minimums, file limits, formats, and a centre safe zone for square crops.3 min read

What publishers can do about AI-generated content in social feeds: Content Credentials on images, author tags, byline schema and platform labelling rules.

1. 22AI-generated content in social feeds: what publishers should doHow AI-generated images and text change what happens when your posts are shared, and the practical steps publishers can take: disclosure, provenance, bylines.4 min read
2. 23Content Credentials on shared images: what survives a shareWhat C2PA Content Credentials are, why WordPress image sizes and social uploads often strip them, and how to keep provenance on the images you share.4 min read
3. 24Authorship tags for shared links: author, article:author and fediverse:creatorAdd authorship signals to link previews: the author meta tag, article:author, twitter:creator and fediverse:creator, with WordPress code and testing steps.3 min read
4. 25Byline schema in WordPress: marking up a human authorMark up article authors with schema.org Person data in WordPress: the fields search engines read, author pages, sameAs profiles and common mistakes.4 min read
5. 26How platforms label AI content, and what triggers the labelHow major platforms decide to label AI-generated or altered media: creator disclosure, provenance metadata, detection, and how publishers avoid mistakes.4 min read
6. 27Labelling AI-generated images in link previewsHow to label an AI-generated og:image honestly: captions, alt text, digital source type metadata and what networks show when the card is shared.3 min read
7. 28AI disclosure lines that survive a shareWhere to put an AI assistance disclosure so it reaches readers who only see the share card: titles, descriptions, bylines and the first lines of a post.3 min read
8. 29Checking Content Credentials before you share an imageHow to check an image's Content Credentials before you share or publish it: what a C2PA manifest shows, what a missing one means, and what to record.3 min read
9. 30Where image metadata gets stripped: WordPress, CDNs and uploadsWhere IPTC, EXIF and Content Credentials metadata is lost between your camera and a reader's feed: WordPress resizing, optimisers, CDNs and social uploads.3 min read
10. 31Can an AI detector judge a social post?Why AI text detectors are least reliable on the short, informal text of social posts and captions, what published tests found, and what to rely on instead.3 min read
11. 32Invisible watermarks on AI images: what they can proveHow invisible watermarks on AI-generated images work, how they differ from Content Credentials, what a detected watermark proves and what it cannot.3 min read
12. 33Spotting AI images in your feed: checks that hold upWhich checks for AI-generated images in a social feed actually hold up: platform labels, provenance data, earlier copies and the source, and which tells fail.3 min read
13. 34Accused of posting AI content: how to show your workWhat to do when readers, a client or a platform say your post or article was written by AI: the evidence that settles it and what does not help.3 min read

MashShare was a WordPress share buttons plugin sold here until it closed in 2025. What it was, what happened, and what to do if your site still runs it.

1. 35MashShare add-ons: what each one didA plain record of the MashShare add-ons and licences once sold on this domain, what each feature did, and where to find a current guide to the same feature.3 min read
2. 36MashShare alternatives: choosing a replacement share pluginMashShare was closed in 2025. How to choose a replacement share plugin: features to compare, questions to ask, and when plain links are the better answer.3 min read
3. 37Removing MashShare cleanly from a WordPress siteRemove MashShare from WordPress without breaking posts: find leftover shortcodes and theme calls, decide what to do with stored counts, and clean options.3 min read

Practical WordPress notes that share plugins keep running into: troubleshooting order, deprecated function notices, and replacing WP-Cron with real cron.

1. 38Fixing the get_currentuserinfo() is deprecated noticeWhat the get_currentuserinfo() is deprecated notice means, how to find the plugin or theme calling it, and the one-line fix using wp_get_current_user().3 min read
2. 39External cron jobs for WordPress, the right wayReplace WP-Cron's visit-triggered schedule with a real server cron job: disable WP-Cron, call wp-cron.php or WP-CLI on a schedule, and check tasks run.3 min read
3. 40Plugin troubleshooting: what to try firstTroubleshoot a WordPress plugin problem in a safe order: caches, conflicts, debug logging, recovery mode, and disabling a plugin when the admin is down.3 min read