This doesn't add much to the discussion but the term on-screen “engagement” turds, as Gruber puts it, is what I'll be calling them in the future. Really cuts to the heart of what marketing/business development teams have served up to everyone.
I wonder what kind of conversations take place when they're considering implementing this UI bloat. "People love sharing, let's help them share!" Like they're actually helping readers, rather than realize it's a rhetorical lie to help them get past the fact that they have no respect for the end user and are singularly focused on meeting a KPI that will net them more money than the creators of the actual content - you know, the reason why people are even on the fucking website in the first place.
"If we made it clear what was happening, nobody would ever click on that!"
Actual quote from someone I was working with on designing a webpage. He wanted us to basically sign our user's up with his site automatically without them knowing.
I wonder what kind of conversations take place when they're considering implementing this UI bloat. "People love sharing, let's help them share!" Like they're actually helping readers, rather than realize it's a rhetorical lie to help them get past the fact that they have no respect for the end user and are singularly focused on meeting a KPI that will net them more money than the creators of the actual content - you know, the reason why people are even on the fucking website in the first place.