Editing 1034: Share Buttons

{{comic
| number    = 1034
| date      = March 26, 2012
| title     = Share Buttons
| image     = share_buttons.png
| titletext = The only post to achieve perfect balance between the four was a hilarious joke about Mark Zuckerberg getting caught using a pseudonym to sneak past the TSA.
}}

{{incomplete|This article needs to be rewritten to be more timely. Things like Google+, Twitter, and the "large and loud atheist community on Reddit" should not be referenced in the present tense. Share buttons like this are also not seen very often anymore, particularly with these share counters. This should be rewritten to provide some historical context for these buttons, as it may be confusing to younger readers.}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a commentary on what sort of articles would have attracted the most attention on different {{w|social networking services}}, through share buttons showing the amount of interactions on the website they were shared to. This practice became outdated, in favor of using a single share button, without a share counter. From left to right the share buttons are: {{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}, {{w|Reddit}}, and {{w|Google plus|Google+}}.

*Twitterers were often stereotyped as constantly trying to be funny; hence, the article on stand-up comedy was shared most on Twitter.

*{{w|Conspiracy theory}} articles played well on Reddit, especially if they were against the {{w|Christian Right}} and for {{w|Wikipedia}}, as there was a very prominent atheist community on Reddit.

*"Boycott Facebook" articles were ironically popular on Facebook. Google+, being semantically akin to Facebook, also had a significant anti-Facebook community. One of the punchlines is that Google+ wasn't being used often, before being closed down in 2019.

*The last article got almost no shares at all — not many would want to admit they are reading an article about a {{w|RealDoll}}, a type of sex doll. (Also mentioned in [[Game AIs]] and [[Flying Cars]].) A custom ROM is an aftermarket distribution of the {{w|Android (operating system)|Android}} operating system and are often targeted toward enthusiasts. This community existed primarily on Google+ (as Google is the main developer of Android), and was one of the few active communities on that social network. As Android is an operating system primarily aimed at {{w|smartphones}} and {{w|tablet computers}}, installing it on a RealDoll, whilst possible due to Android's {{w|open source}} nature, would be a very niche activity, and the low number of shares indicates that it only interested a small portion of the already-small (relative to other social networks) Google+ community.

The title text humorously combines appealing subjects for all four networks:

*''a hilarious joke'' – Twitter, same as above.
*''about {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}'' – founder of Facebook.
*''using a {{w|pseudonym}}'' – referencing a [http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218649/Google_works_to_soothe_users_over_real_name_controversyremember controversy] about real names on Google+.
*''to sneak past the {{w|Transportation Security Administration|TSA}}'' – Reddit, a conspiracy theory as above.

==Transcript==
:[A series of article titles with four share buttons underneath each: Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Google+]

:Breaking Into Stand-up Comedy
:FB: 3, Twitter: 1,781, Reddit: 2, G+: 0

:How the Christian Right Threatens Wikipedia
:FB: 1, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 2,241, G+: 3

:Boycott Facebook Today!
:FB: 248k, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 0, G+: 74

:DIY: Installing a Custom ROM on a Realdoll
:FB: 0, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 0, G+: 2

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Google Plus]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Sex]]