Twitter, a social networking site, serves as a viral traffic source to our blogs. It’s very important that you provide a platform (easily accessible share buttons) for your readers to share your articles via Social media like Twitter to make the best out of each article. With that being said, I’ve always had the confusion in choosing between the official twitter button and the service provided by Tweetmeme! So, I sat down last night to figure out the differences between the two and compiled the same as an article to share it with my readers on SML.
In this article, you’ll get to know about the pros and cons of using the official twitter button as well as that provided by Tweetmeme. Let me start with the official button. To install this on your blog, just navigate to the following page – Official Twitter Button. I’ll list out the pros and cons of the official tweet button now.
PROS
1. The first advantage of using the official Twitter button is that it is official. In other words, there is no intermediate service that enjoys the traffic from your blog.
2. The second biggest advantage of using Official Tweet button is that when you hit the tweet button, a pop up window opens up and the moment you tweet the link, it recommends you to follow a maximum of two users provided they are not on your current list – most people recommend following themselves.
CONS
1. The official twitter button shows a low number of twitter shares than the actual number. In other words, they are pretty slow in updating the counter stats which is the only reason that many people opt for Tweetmeme service.
2. Another disadvantage is the inability to customize the script – to use external URL shorteners like bit.ly or su.pr or any other service. However, your links are made short with “official twitter URL shortener”.
Coming to the service provided by TweetMeme whose button can be grabbed by using the following link – Install Tweetmeme Button, do possess few pros and cons. In fact, many popular blogs still use their service, possibly to show the stats/number of shares before the official twitter button came into existence. Well, let’s head to the pros and cons.
PROS
1. Immediate update of your twitter shares is the biggest advantage of using their service. This is one main reason for popular blogs still using their buttons, apart from the fact that they came into existence before the official twitter button.
2. The script is customizable. In other words, you can modify the way in which your tweets should appear – use external URL shorteners, add hash tags at the end of your tweet and many more.
CONS
1. It is not official which indirectly means they (Tweetmeme) don’t send you any traffic. What you are really doing is, you are sending them traffic for free – an important point to consider.
2. They don’t recommend your users to follow you nor anyone for that matter, once he/she tweets your link. So, you indirectly lose a follower. Just imagine the number of followers you might lose, by multiplying it with the number of articles and shares for each, on your blog.
3. Above all, Tweetmeme themselves recommend you to use the official Twitter button:)
To wrap up, I should say that it’s up to the individual to choose whether to go with the Tweetmeme button or the official button. As far as my opinion is concerned, I recommend using both – similar to Shoutmeloud (Official buttons on top and Tweetmeme buttons at the end of each article).
I personally use Tweetmeme on my blog because they show better stats than the official tweet button apart from the ability to use external URL shorteners. However, I’m ready to change it to the official buttons provided someone convinces me with a strong and valid argument apart from the ones mentioned above. So, shout your opinions via comments!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
1-The tweetmeme button is ugly, rather we can say the Official Twitter button looks better.
2-I’ve noticed that the service(tweetmeme) is down sometimes, its more likely to be down than the official twitter button.
3-I had the tweetmeme button installed on my blog, yes you’re right, the official button is slower in showing you the correct number of tweets and the tweetmeme button is faster but when I implemented the official twitter button I noticed that the twitter button showed more number of tweets than the tweetmeme button, chances are that the tweet was posted from another source other than the tweetmeme button, which was not taken into account/missed by tweetmeme.
4- As you said above, no recommendation feature available.
In my view the tweetmeme button does a decent job, but the official Twitter button performs better
, so I would recommend the official Twitter button.
I would prefer going with custom twitter sharing buttons, neither with tweetmeme not the official one.
I dont know why but i am unable to show the big official twitter button. When i use the script, it use to show the small button.
Plz help.
I like Tweetmeme a lot too…before. The funny thing with the Tweetmeme widget on my blog right now is that it seems to show a lower number of tweets than what the real count is. I did a test and in some cases, it shows less than half of the number of that tweet. for the specific post.
My remedy then is to show both Tweetmeme and Twitter on my Sharebar since I’m aware lots of my users are used to pressing that tweetmeme retweet button rather than the twitter one.
What about Topsy Tweet Button?
Official Twitter Button is better i guess,
but still people prefer tweetmeme for some valid reasons !