Introduction to Boston.com social sharing
Boston.com social sharing is a new opt-in feature that allows you to show your Facebook friends what you are reading and watching on Boston.com, and in turn allows you to see what your friends are reading. It’s designed to encourage interaction between you and your friends around our news, photos, and videos.
Once you enable this feature, every article you read and photo gallery you view will be visible to your friends both here and on Facebook.
If you look above this text, you’ll see the bar that either invites you to turn on the feature, or shows what your friends have been looking at. If you don’t see it, click this link to load this page with the social sharing bar .
You always have the opportunity to delete anything you share from your history. Go to the Activity menu, go to the story you want to remove, and then click on the ‘x’ next to it. You can also choose “Delete activity and Disconnect’’ from the Options menu, and your information will be erased.
We’re testing out these features currently with a small section of our users.
Please send us your feedback.
What is shared?
Each article, photo gallery, and video that you look at for more than 10 seconds will be shared. We’ll always pop-up a reminder at the bottom-right of your screen when we add the story to your Facebook timeline. You can cancel the sharing by clicking the ‘Undo’ link. You can also control your sharing using the social bar at the top of the screen. If you click on the link that says “Activity’’ below your name, it will show you all the items that you have shared. Move your mouse over an item you want to hide, and you can delete it by clicking on the little x that appears.
How do I turn off social sharing?
In the social bar at the top of the screen, if you click where it says “Social: ON’’, you’ll get a menu where you can choose to “Turn social OFF’’. You can also delete individual items after you share them. Should you wish, you can permanently disconnect your Facebook account and delete all items you previously shared through social sharing. You can select that from the “Options’’ menu.
Why don’t I always see the social sharing bar?
We are still in the process of rolling out social sharing across Boston.com, so it does not appear everywhere yet. If you don’t see the bar, your activity won’t be shared.
I activated social sharing already, and now I don’t see the social sharing bar. Why?
We are currently testing this feature with a limited number of our users, so if you are using another computer, you may not see it. To make the bar appear, please load this page with the social sharing bar and then click the “Share Boston.com’’ button.
How do I make the social sharing bar go away?
Click the ‘x’ at the upper right of the bar. If you’re currently connected, first go to the Activity menu below your name, and then choose “Log out of Facebook’’.
What are the benefits of social sharing?
We hope you’ll find it fun and interesting to see what your Facebook friends are reading, and that your friends will want to know what catches your eye.
Will I be spamming my Facebook friends?
Facebook will only show a small number of the stories you read to your friends. When your friends click on the link, they will go the ordinary page on Boston.com, where they will have the opportunity to turn on social sharing; if they don’t want to, they will be able to read the article like any other reader.
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