Why hasn't the number of shares reported on my stats page changed in months?
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My blog is a year old and I routinely see Facebook and twitter shares being reported at the bottom of individual posts. But the number of ‘shares’ reported on my ‘stats’ page hasn’t changed in months. I know there has been sharing activity, why don’t I see it?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there,
The WordPress.com sharing stats page, which I’ve linked to below, only counts direct shares from WordPress.com:
https://wordpress.com/my-stats/?blog=52242398&blog_shares&unit=1
So, if someone opens your blog post and copies the link to share on their Facebook page, the share is not recorded. Also, if someone shares your Facebook status where you’ve shared your post, that share is also not recorded. Does that make sense?
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Well, I do understand that, and I read the caveat that says that the numbers reported by the buttons on the posts may not match, but it just seems kind of unlikely, given the number of visitors and reported shares that the number on the stats page would not change even slightly in 3 months. However, it’s possible all the sharing is being done off the site.
Could you point me to any more information about where the numbers by the buttons at the bottom of the posts come from? I’d like to understand better how they work.
Thanks for your help.
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Hi there,
I couldn’t find a guide anywhere that illustrates where the numbers on the sharing icons at the bottom of posts come from so I’ll just explain it here!
When a page with sharing icons loads, we grab the URL and ping all of the sharing services. Those services return back the number of times they have seen that particular URL (and therefore, that post) get shared across their platform. Then, we display that number alongside the particular icon. Does that make sense?
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OK, well thanks for the information, that helps me understand what’s going on.
I’ll keep an eye on the share number a while longer and get back in touch if it still remains static after another quarter.
I’ve noticed that sometimes the publicize numbers don’t update for while and then suddenly catch up. I thought perhaps this might be a similar delay.
Thanks again. -
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