ShareThis, aiming to help publishers better tap into peer-to-peer messaging, announced yesterday that it has created an AT&T Text to Share button.
It’s a natural move since publishers are starting to take note of readers’ shift to mobile devices. Last month, Radium One added a WhatsApp button to its Po.st suite of buttons.
WhatsApp, which is in the process of being acquired by Facebook, has 500 million global users who send as many as 64 million messages a day and there’s some evidence that WhatsApp share buttons are popular with readers.
SMS isn’t as sexy as WhatsApp or SnapChat, but it’s still widely used. And with more than 50 million U.S. smart phone owners, AT&T is an ideal test partner for this untapped mobile sharing stream. Paul Lentz, a ShareThis senior vice president, explained further in a blog post:
With the AT&T Text Button, publishers can now drive engagement through one of the most popular, influential and prolific sharing channels. We know from our research that consumers are nearly twice as likely to click and share content through their mobile devices. We also know that when someone receives a text with a shared article, video or photo, they are more apt to open it and share it with their friends.
The AT&T button, which is live on the ShareThis blog (under more sharing options), requires users to authenticate with their AT&T account credentials, like they do with Facebook or Twitter. Users then are able to send a link to the content via SMS to any mobile phone. There is also an option to send links via email from within the interface, which works on desktop and all mobile browsers.
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