I like love this trend. Increasingly, GoC web sites are facilitating link sharing via the social web. Recognition that today’s web is participatory!
Here’s three examples.
Public Health Agency of Canada
PHAC has implemented a “page tools” type bar across the their site with text size, email, print and share options. Clicking on the share option brings up a box that allows you to post to Twitter, Facebook, Delicious and several other services with a single click. While the box is open, it pushes the rest of the page content down, rather than overlaying it. Looks like it’s Javascript powered.
Click to see full size
This is the one one of the three examples here to place it’s sharing tool at the top rather than the bottom of the page.
Department of Finance Canada
Finance has implemented the AddThis share button, and placed it at the bottom of each page on their site. You have to squint a bit to see it – it’s very unobtrusive. This one is interesting because it’s a third party widget service. No reinventing the wheel here!
click to see full size
And for those of you wondering – there is a French version that reads Partager.
Library and Archives Canada
LAC has implemented a “social tagging” bar at the bottom of pages across their site. This one’s the most limited – it only provides options for sharing on Delicious, Digg, Diigo, Facebook and Technorati (no Twitter?). This is implemented straight in the XHTML code, presumably as part of the website’s page templates. Points for simplicity!
click to see full size
In terms of CLF compliance, my guess is that the LAC example comes out on top since it doesn’t depend on javascript and uses standard text links. Although all three of these examples use the social services’ brand icons, which, depending on who you ask, goes against CLF’s “third-party symbols” standard. It’s OK though, because that’s a “risk” I’m comfortable living with too.
What's a spaghetti test?
The Canada Business Beta site also has a “Share This” feature in the right-hand column of every page: http://www.newcanadabusiness.ca/eng/
Thanks Luc – I definitely like the looks of the new Canada Business site.
I stuck to “core” institutional sites for my examples, since they are most relevant for me. ;+)
[...] Social Sharing and GoC Web Sites: Three Examples « Spaghetti Testing | Peter Smith http://spaghettitesting.ca/2009/08/14/1001/ [...]
Nice to see the different approaches in terms of function, appeal and compliance. TBS may have to look at the policy of third-party symbols if the government wants to get into more social interaction. I’m at the point I see them as a function, not a brand.
[...] January 2010 by Peter A while back I blogged about Finance Canada’s use of the AddThis widget to facilitate sharing their website content. Just noticed that the AddThis button has vanished from [...]