A new “version” of the popular ShareThis tool has been released. You will probably recognize the icon as it has been used on thousands of blogs the world over, due to the simplicity it adds to allowing visitors to bookmark, email or otherwise share articles they are reading.
If you run a WordPress blog, it is easy to integrate ShareThis as it comes in plugin form. With the new update though, non-WordPress blogs are now supported, making it easier than ever to use ShareThis. You can also add ShareThis to Internet Explorer or Firefox to make it that much easier to share the great content you find online.
Some other new features in the new version include being able to configure how the button works, which web sites and web services you want to include, and what colors you would like it to use. Another big addition includes the ability to not only e-mail articles like in previous version, but also share the content via IM and mobile chat protocols like SMS.
The last major new addition is a tracking system which reports how many people are sharing your content and which content they are sharing. Data will be delayed during the first month of data collecting, but I am not sure after that if it will be updated more often.
I can see this becoming more useful to bloggers and websites in general as they continue to make the product more useful and easier to use.
Some drawbacks I have noticed include a slower loading time on the new widget, and some slight user interface quirks, but I still think it is worth adding to your array of on-site promotional tools.
For more details on what is going on with the ShareThis product, check out their blog, and download the new WordPress plugin.
