How many social media icons should you have on your site?

Social media icons are like assholes. If you have more than one, something is wrong.

Yes, you heard that right, one. Not eleven, not one hundred: ONE.

Because this … this this this despicable practice of molesting my eyeballs with icons everytime I scroll down a page has got to stop.

This has got to stop:

I mean did you really think your news article about the upcoming gubernatorial election was going to be a smash hit on Pinterest?

Do facebook friends need to know about your visitor’s anti-fungal cream purchase?

Is your company about us page, however provocative, really going to take Twitter by storm?

I must ask: Is such content shareable with family, friends, coworkers?

“But if I don’t have the share buttons, my content won’t get shared!”

Come on, if your visitors lack the motivation to copy and paste the url into the address bar, your content isn’t that great. If your content really is God’s gift to the internet, I assure you, people will find a way to share it. If you’re unhappy with how much your website is being shared, publish better shit.

Social media icons aren’t achievements. They’re not badges or flair. You don’t get internet street cred or extra points for having them. They add noise and clutter. They’re distractions. The more options you present to visitors, the more you cripple their ability to make decisions and the more you detract from user experience.

So get with it people … Less social media icons, better content!