How to Use Jetpack’s Social Media Sharing Buttons

Sharing buttons allow your visitors to share your content on social media sites. Follow the steps below to learn how to configure the sharing buttons in the Jetpack interface. The following steps are divided into sections label the functionality of each section. You will need to use the login steps (under the Enabling or Disabling Social Media buttons section) in order to access any of the options if you are not following this tutorial in any particular order.

Enabling or Disabling the Social Media Buttons

1. Log into the WordPress Dashboard
2. In the menu at left, click on Jetpack.
3. In the Jetpack Dashboard, click on Settings. At this point you may be required to login to your WordPress.com account created/associated during the Jetpack plugin installation.
4. In the section labeled Sharing buttons, click on Sharing in the menu bar at top.
5. Click on the slider to add new buttons to your WordPress site. This option is normally on by default. If you click on the slider and it turns gray (moving to the left), then the option is disabled.

Editing the Label Text used above your Social Media Buttons

1. Under the slider, click on link labeled Configure your sharing buttons.
2. You may see the option login to your WordPress.com account.
3. The first option you see after the login is complete is the menu bar in the top center portion of the screen with the following choices: Connections andSharing buttons. Sharing Buttons should be selected. Immediately below the menu bar is the first option that appears in a call-out bubble: Edit label text. Click on this bubble in order to change the label text that appears above the social media buttons. By default, this text reads, “Share this:“.
4. As you change the text, it will change in the Preview pane immediately below where you are making the change. When you are satisfied with your change, click on the Close button in the bottom right corner of the window that you are in.

Adding, Removing, or Reordering your Social Media buttons

1. The next call-out bubble that we are going to focus on is the Edit sharing button. Click on the Edit sharing buttons option and you will see the Edit visible buttons bubble. Here you will see all of the available social media sites you can link to. The buttons that are faded are the ones that are actively showing in the preview pane. You will also see a Reorder button and a Close button.
2. Click on a visible social media button to make it fade out so that it is visible to your visitors. You will see them appear in the preview pane. Click on a faded social media button to remove it from the available list that your visitors can use. You will see the social media disappear from the preview pane as you do this. Select the social media buttons that you wish to use.
3. Next, you can also reorder the sequence in which the social media buttons appear by clicking on the Reorder button. Click on the Reorder button, then drag-and-drop your social media buttons in the order that you want. Click on the Add/Remove button that appears in place of the Reorder button to return to add or remove other social media buttons.
4. Once you have completed adding your social media buttons and they are in the order that you wish, click on theClosebutton to move on to the next section. You can also click on the blue Save Changes button in the bottom right-corner of Sharing buttons section to save your changes.

Using the More button for your Social Media Buttons

1. The More button allows you to hide other social options so that they only appear after a visitor clicks on the More button. Click on the More button in order to use it.
2. It will appear a little confusing at first as you will see a blank call-out bubble under the More icon in the preview pane. However, it’s actually quite simple. After you have clicked on the More button, click on the social media icons that you want to appear under the More button. As you add icons, they will appear in the call-out bubble in the preview pane.
3. You can also click on the Reorder button to arrange their appearance in the More section.
4. Click on Close to move on to the next section. You can also click on the blue Save Changes button in the bottom right-corner of Sharing buttons section to save your changes.

Sharing buttons Options

1. The final section of the Sharing buttons settings is the Options section. Click on the check box where you want your sharing buttons to appear in your WordPress site. By default, the Posts are the only section that is selected.
2. To the right you will also see a field for your Twitter username if you have one to share. If you share your content using twitter, then they will see Twitter user name in the shared content.
3. Click on Save Changes to save any options you may have added or removed.

That completes our tutorial on using the Sharing Buttons section for your Jetpack plugin. If you want to learn more about Jetpack, please check out our articles in the InMotion Hosting Support Center.