Almost 10 months after I was able to get Socialize 1.0 out we can now move on to Socialize 2.0. This release is a major rewrite of the plugin code to reduce the number of calls to the database and increase the plugin’s flexibility.
Video of Socialize 2.0 Settings
More Placement Control
I cleaned up the stylesheet a bit to play nice with certain buttons, Facebook Like, and created a new option to display your buttons horizontally. The stylesheet can also now be disabled so you can create custom code.
Sorting
I’ve wanted this one for awhile. What sets Socialize apart from the rest is the ability to selectively display the buttons of your choice on different posts, pages, etc. The only thing missing was the ability to easily rearrange the order of the selected buttons.
Well now rearranging buttons is as easy as dragging them around and saving your post. You can also change the order of the default buttons being displayed in the same manner.
Open Graph Integration
Open Graph meta tags help your site become a rich object in a social graph. Facebook and other sites use this data to learn more about your site and the page being shared.
You can now easily associate your Facebook Like button with a Facebook page using you App ID.
Bitly Integration
Bitly is a great way to get simple click data about a link all the while keeping the link small and friendly for the internet. You can now insert your Bitly username and API key to generate Bitly links you can track.
More Design Control
While I was updating the Socialize plugin, I began adding more means of controlling the looks of the share buttons. I ended up with a whole new page in the admin with complete control over every button in the Socialize plugin.
I also revamped the Call to Action area, allowing you to edit every aspect of how it’s displayed. You can change the border size, color and style as well as use template tags to change the HTML within the Call to Action area.
Custom Post Type Support
Finally, I added better Custom Post type support to the point where you can disable and enable the socialize plugin on specific post types.
The Future
I had a lot planned for this release but time forced me to trim some of the fat. I won’t give up on some of my ideas tho and here are some features to keep en eye out for:
- Mobile integration
- Shortcodes
- Developer API
- Front End editing
- New/Custom Buttons
… and some secret awesome stuff you’ll just have to wait for.
What Is Socialize?
The idea was to create an easy to use plugin that allowed bloggers to selectively add social bookmarks to their post. Furthermore I wanted to only use actionable buttons with counters because I believe displaying a posts social activity gives it positive social proof and can lead to more shares and more views.
This plugin also includes what I like to call an ‘alert box’ that is selectively displayed below posts and pages to encourage comments and sharing. You can also insert buttons into this post to increase the sharing potential.
The plugin is designed to make it easy for readers to share your content and give you full control of what is displayed where.
Download Socialize
So go check out the plugin page and try it out.
Remember if you are upgrading, be sure to deactivate the plugin first and reactivate it once you have uploaded the files.
38 replies on “Introducing Socialize 2.0”
Why when I updated to this version the call box disappeared from all my post and it no longer shows up?
This means the new settings were not created for some reason. I’m working on a new release with a ‘Reset’ button to fix this problem where it exists. I’m also making some code modifications to fix any other problems.
In the mean time, follow these directions to get everything working again http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-socialize-alert-box-social-buttons-disappeared-box-is-still-there?replies=8#post-2078522
Okay thanks
For some reason Linked In Buttons won’t work with new update.. 🙁
I am having the same issue. Linkedin box is not showing up. Otherwise loving this plugin. Thanks!
Thanks for introducing this.. I think that it increase plugins flexibility..
Hello, I have some problems with the plugin:
1. the call box doesn’t show if I don’t check “Show Inline Buttons” in the Display Settings Page (it’s ok though, because I didn’t selected any inline buttons in the Buttons Page)
2. the text included in the “Box template” only calls the box and the text, and not the buttons (even if I selected them in the Buttons Page). I managed to show some buttons replacing “%buttons%” with the tags you suggested as an example (%%facebook_like_standard%%, etc). But where can I find the tags for the other buttons, to show them manually?
3. I am using WordPress 2.9.2, and I cannot see any widgets in the “edit post” page related to Socialize. So I cannot select different buttons for Is it possible that it only works with WordPress 3?
1) You can only use the Call to Action box if you have posts and pages checked under Inline Buttons as well. This will be changed in the future. Still trying to move away from the old way of doing things.
2) The default buttons were broken in the first release. they should work now.
3) Make sure the socialize meta boxes are enabled under screen settings for that post/page in the top right corner
Please fix the new version. I upgraded from previous versions and the plugin is all mixed up. Should I uninstal this updated to 2 version and install it again? This was the best social network sharing plugins for wordpress until this 2.0 update I and would hate to have to move to another.
Im waiting hour after hour for new upgrade to fix this problems.
You don’t need to downgrade. Ive made a few fixes since the initial release. Let me know how it works.
Please fix. It is so frustrating seeing this wonderful plugin work with so many errors when upgraded from previous versions.
I’ve made a few fixes since the initial release. Everything seems to be working fine now.
I dont know why the tweet button is not working. I went to the text box and wrote my twitter id text i.e. pakgreenz but it doesn’t update the no. of tweets. can u plz help. thanks
Which Tweet button are you using? Changing the Twitter ID in the settings wont affect the number of Tweets a post has. Also, each service may have different numbers because of how they track tweets.
I am using the official twitter button as u can see on the site.
Hi Jon,
I addded a page within WordPress and disabled all the social media links from within the admin panel for this page.
I got an “header already sent” when saving the page and fixed it by an additional if (is_arry(…)) condition in the source code.
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /vol/www/mydomain//blog/wp-content/plugins/socialize/admin/socialize-admin.php on line 88
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /vol/www/mydomain//blog/wp-content/plugins/socialize/admin/socialize-admin.php on line 88
Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /vol/www/mydomain//blog/wp-content/plugins/socialize/admin/socialize-admin.php:88) in /vol/www/mydomain//blog/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 897
Thanks for reporting this. I’ll look into it and update appropriately.
I have this same problem and I just installed the latest version of this plugin. Did you ever figure out the problem?
Same problem here – any updates on this yet?
We are also having the same problem. Any status report?
Were you able to get a handle on what was causing this error Jon?
Getting same error on one of my clients’s blogs.. they are using just the default wordpress theme (WordPress Default 1.6 by Michael Heilemann) with WordPress 3.2.1 and it’s only when they “edit” or “publish” a page.
oh and line 88 on the socialize-admin.php file is:
foreach($_POST[‘socialize_buttons’] as $button){
This plugin gets better with every build. Thanks for adding Open Graph Integration – really nice touch.
I would love to see the Google +1 button appear in the next release. Keep up the good work!!
Hi Jon,
First, let me thank for your awesome plugin because it helps me make my blog more social and easier to share.
However, Google has just annouced its +1 button, when do you decide to put this button into your plugin?
Regards,
Tho Huynh
I absolutely love this plugin and its ease of use. Thank you for all of your work!
I was wondering if you will be adding the Google +1 button to it in the near future? None of the current Google +1 button plugins I have tried make me happy.
Hi, many thanks for this great plugin. Do you have any idea if the new +1 button from google will be implemented in this plugin?
I just wanted to let you know of an issue with the latest update to the Socialize WP plugin. I just updated the 2.0 version to the latest 2.0.3, and my Facebook share buttons are gone, except for one which is at the bottom of my homepage. They used to be above the Twitter buttons on my homepage.
How can i manually move where the buttons appear?
Currently there is not much you can do beside floating right or left and vertical/horizontal. I would like to eventually create a shortcode that gave you more control to place the buttons wherever.
Jon, one more issue for you to check out when you get a chance. The Twitter button occasionally fails to add the actual link to the Tweet. Here is an example of a post like that:
http://www.vegasnews.com/55960/holly-madison-hosts-blush-boutique-nightclub%E2%80%99s-fourth-anniversary-sept-4.html
I think that was a false alarm. It just started working again so maybe bit.ly was down. Sorry!
looks like it is indeed bit.ly causing all the issues…no such luck on my end being able to get it to work unless i remove my API authentication.
socialize can now recognize my blog title in the RT button.
The Tweet button is not accepting any style changes from the ‘Buttons’ menu. The button style seems to be stuck in the horizontal mode.
Do you know of anything that causes this?
Thanks in advance
Something went crazy with something in the plugin. It was turning some of my incoming urls into something like this:
http://beingalison.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbeingalison.com%2F10-bizarre-pumpkin-carvings&size=tall&count=true&annotation=&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fwidget%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3DHRLoPZEI820.en_GB.%2Fam%3D!oQWlKN7CPkX3SB93%2Fd%3D1%2F#id=I2_1319639237575&parent=http%3A%2F%2
And it was sending whatever urls looked like that to my homepage. It’s been annoying me all day. I figured out it must be the Socialize plugin because what else uses tall and count? Well I disabled it and all my incoming traffic is hitting where it should be.
I know of a few bloggers that are having this happen to them. Do you know what it could be from??
Jon, really nice social plugin! I’ve tried a lot of them, but I keep coming back to this one. My only challenge is the lack of shortcode support. Shortcode would allow me to hide the plugin on mobile browsers. Also allow me to order the presentation of several plugins being used (like facebook comments and related posts for example). Can you help us with a shortcode, please?
Hey, I am working on a site for a client, I installed your plugin then decided to uninstall it, however the widget is still appearing on my home page, it briefly flashes on the bottom of the screen then it disappears, what do i need to do to remove whatever this plugin has injected into my wp install, i already removed the plugin, however the problem continues.
John, I am really sorry, the issues that i was having was with WP Socializer not your plugin, my apologies..