Addthis


Addtoany

I don't know about you, but looking at Addthis, Quantcast, Blogmarks, Youmob and Brainify are not exactly the first websites that come to mind when I think of Social Media. In fact I haven't even heard of Youmob or Brainify at all. This is comparitively to Addtoany, in which I've heard of, and use, every service listed (except Orkut, which is most popular in South America.)

From the standpoint of speed, Addtoany seems to win as well. Although both load quickly, I personally have found Addtoany to load slightly faster.

But, let's take a look at the features. They both allow customization of colors, automatically adapt based on the services you use most, and both offer analytics for their buttons.But there's the problem. Addtoany only works if you use Google analytics. Although Google Analytics is a great tool, it's not an analytics tracker I personally use. This put Addtoany at a serious downside.

Another thing about Addthis is that only it can be used in flash websites, as Addtoany has yet to offer a flash widget. Not offering this can be limiting Addtoany's audience, however, unlike Addthis, Addtoany allows you to add a custom social media website not already listed, giving you ultimate flexbility.

So what do you choose? The one that allows you to track changes, or the one that offers a better product otherwise? 

The verdict? Despite the frustration of not being able to track the widget, I'll take the better product any day. Addthis, despite being a social media widget, seems to be behind on the times in terms of what services it offers. Although it has an advantage over the flash website market, Addtoany offers more fitting social media services, and more flexbility.