Google and Amazon have published research to the effect that even small increases in page load time have a massive effect on traffic.
Social sharing is intended to boost traffic virally, but I wonder if these stupid widgets are actually reducing traffic by slowing the page load so much.
Many of these submit tools could be replaced (with less functionality) with an image button or text link.
Absolutley. When I set up caching and a cdn on one of my sites, I saw a 25% increase In visits literally overnight. When I asked the developer of the caching plugin, he said that many people report the same thing.
Social sharing is intended to boost traffic virally, but I wonder if these stupid widgets are actually reducing traffic by slowing the page load so much.
Many of these submit tools could be replaced (with less functionality) with an image button or text link.