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I have a website I'm working on that uses 7 social media websites.

Rather than plaster them on the website and take up valuable screen real estate, I would like one icon that can float and, when clicked, a menu scrolls out which will contain all of the above icons.

For the mobile version (sub 480px), it's not a problem since the menu is hidden behind a menu icon which slides in. But for the tablet and desktop version, I would like to add a "social media" icon somewhere in the flow (as opposed to only in the footer).

What would you use to describe "social media"? I was at first thinking of using a share icon (which apparently is not a standard (see this article).

But then, we're not really sharing like in the days of Digg and Delicious. What we are really doing is "connecting" with people via social media? Is this a more proper term / concept?

Should I use a connect icon as opposed to a social icon to represent social media?

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  • A person standing aside from a larger group and clutching a smartphone? (Which is kind of ironic, come to think of it.)
    – Jongware
    Commented Oct 17, 2015 at 19:19

5 Answers 5

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I would suggest either placing a few on a larger icon as shown below.

enter image description here

You could also go with a more generic icon with some sort of networking theme like the one shown below.

enter image description here

A lot of apps, such as youtube, use a 'share' icon which may cover what you are wanting.

enter image description here enter image description here

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    The last one is a very common icon for "sharing". There are many variations of it, like a human icon is used instead of one point or there are more smaller joints.
    – SZCZERZO KŁY
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 9:58
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I think in cases like this it's best to follow what most users will find standard... So the share icon you see on most sites probably makes sense.

Personally though, I've been more inclined recently to leave off sharing buttons as they become more embedded at os level. On a mobile and modern desktops you can share directly through the os, with the benefit of it opening in app rather than taking to one of those share pages that you may or may not be logged into.

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The share icon would be the most common uses. If you have questions like this try typing social icon on sites like Dribbble and see what the results are.

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What I usually do when i'm in the situation of dealing with 7-8 Social Media icons is ill put the 3 most important (facebook, twitter, LinkedIn) and then make a dropdown menu after that where ill put the rest. The 3 most important social media of course depends on which business you are doing it for.

enter image description here

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  • Welcome to GDSE. If you want to know more about the site, please see help center. Keep contributing and enjoy the site!
    – Luciano
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 10:33
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I found two emojis that give me social media vibes:

  1. 👤 (bust-in-silhouette)
  2. 👥 (busts-in-silhouette)

I think it kind of looks like the "profile" and "friends" icons on facebook so I am using it for my social media links.

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  • If someone user tests this my hypothesis is that users would not understand that this represents social media.
    – Zach Saucier
    Commented Apr 2 at 15:32
  • @ZachSaucier I think it's use case dependent. It might not be the best icon for a company website that links to a company social media, but I think it makes a lot of sense for a personal website or a resume that links to a social media profile.
    – Shep Bryan
    Commented Apr 3 at 16:06

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