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Sarah Gooding

New Plugin Adds a WhatsApp Button to Jetpack’s Sharing Module

jetpack-whatsapp

Facebook shocked the world when it acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion dollars in February 2014. As of January 2015, the app’s user base has grown to more than 700 million active users, making it the third largest social network on the planet.

Last year very few WordPress sharing plugins prioritized adding WhatsApp, despite its enormous popularity. This has gradually improved in 2015, as more than two dozen social plugins on WordPress.org now include a WhatsApp sharing button.

A new plugin released today brings WhatsApp sharing capabilities to Jetpack, which surprisingly doesn’t include this by default. A ticket was opened on Jetpack’s GitHub account to request this feature, but Jetpack representatives recommended that the service be added as a separate plugin.

The WhatsApp Sharing Button for Jetpack was created by Brazilian WordPress developer Valerio Souza. It works seamlessly with the sharing module’s drag-and-drop configuration and uses the same design style as the other buttons.

whatsapp-sharing

After testing the plugin I discovered that the WhatsApp sharing button is intuitively hidden on the desktop version. Users will only see it if viewing a post from a mobile device, including smartphones and tablets. If you don’t see the button on mobile, make sure you meet the plugin’s minimum requirements: PHP 5.4+, MySQL 5.5+, WordPress 3.8+.

I’d like to see Jetpack add more sharing options for messaging apps. These social networks generally provide a more personal avenue for sharing a post, as opposed to publicly broadcasting to Twitter or Facebook. As an enthusiastic Telegram user, I’d love to see a similar plugin created for it.

A service with 700+ million active users is one social network you can no longer afford to ignore when it comes to sharing, especially if your blog enjoys a global audience. WhatsApp users’ geographical distribution is heaviest in India, Brazil, and Mexico, three emerging markets where smartphones usage is just now starting to explode. Installing the WhatsApp Sharing Button for Jetpack plugin may help your posts reach more readers in other parts of the world.

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25 responses to “New Plugin Adds a WhatsApp Button to Jetpack’s Sharing Module”

  2. A big thumbs up to Valerio. I was wondering why limit it the viewing to mobile devices alone. Whatsapp now has web view capabilities. And with Google already bringing its apps to Chrome on desktop. The restriction is no longer necessary

    • WhatsApp web does not yet allow this integration. This is a limitation that I believe, be Google Chrome. So there is a possibility, retirement this limit.

  4. I’m no developer, but I remember that there’s a certain link syntax for switching apps. That, plus some PHP to include your wordpress post should do the trick (I hope). A quick search turned up some articles to echo this.

    For example, if you have the Facebook app and you’re reading this on an app-based device, then you can hit this link fb://profile and it should switch to the FB app. So maybe there’s a “telegram://message” kind of link?

    As a side note: my gripe with some of the sharing buttons for messaging apps is that you can only use it via starting a blank/new message and then type the recipient. At that point, it’s just as useful (if not more useful) to copy the link you want to share and then paste it into the conversations you’d like to share it to. Or… if there was a step in between that allowed you to choose which contacts and via which app you’d like to share, and it would go off and send the link separately to those individuals. Especially if I’m in a group chat, I end up cutting the link from the blank message, going to my list in Telegram, opening the group, and pasting it in there.

    tl;dr
    I’m a Telegram user too and would like to see some integration :)

  5. The thing is it is absent from the Sharing settings page when a user is trying to set it from a desktop. How are we supposed to activate this service if we can’t seen it?! What was on the creator’s mind when they decided to make it hidden from the admin panel?

  6. I see now – that’s a whole new plugin. No, thanks. Why download separate plugins to a plugin pack? Can’t they just build it into the Jetpack? Guess not, as they still have a very dated-feeling limited set of sharing options that does not include international rivals.

    • AviaScope, Yes, he may one day be part of the core Jetpack, if developers deem necessary. I believe that this is not the interest, as WhatsApp use plugin is a select and regionalized public. As your question, please contact support so I can help you.

    • Yes, I’ve seen the plugin. I’m thinking a sharing button for posts would be far more useful than getting core update/user registration notices via text. Are you thinking about adding any more features?

  8. Thanks Valerio for the WhatsApp plugin! I hope there will be no problem with aggressive server-side caching mechanisms?

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