Follow Buttons
A WordPress plugin that puts follow buttons on your posts and pages. Pick your networks, type in your usernames, choose a theme. No account, no code, nothing to paste into your theme.
A network only shows up once you give it a follow URL. Leave one blank and the plugin skips it rather than linking to an empty profile.
On your page
RoundBelow your post content
Getting there
- 1Install and activate from the Plugins screen, the same as any other plugin.
- 2Open Follow Buttons in the dashboard sidebar and tick the networks you want.
- 3Fill in Set Follow URLs with your username for each one, then pick a theme and save.
- 4Need them elsewhere? Drop the
[sfb]shortcode in, or use the Follow Buttons widget.
Every control above is a field on one settings screen.
Everything a follow button needs. Nothing it doesn't.
Plain links, nothing to load
A follow button is just a link to your profile, so the buttons need no JavaScript at all. Two small stylesheets and inline SVG, served from your own site.
51 networks in the box
Facebook, Instagram and YouTube through to Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, GitHub, Spotify, Twitch and Behance. Tick the ones you use and fill in a username.
Colours that are yours
Set the button, hover, icon and icon hover colours, or leave them blank and every network keeps its own brand colour. Button and icon sizes are separate settings.
Posts, pages, widget, shortcode
Put them above or below your content, in a sidebar with the widget, or anywhere at all with [sfb]. Leave them off one post with [sfb_hide].
Put the buttons exactly where you want them.
Turning on Pages and Posts under Locations puts the buttons above or below your content automatically. When you want them somewhere else, or nowhere on one particular post, these three do the job.
Show the buttons here
Anywhere[sfb]
Renders your buttons at that exact spot, using the networks, theme and colours you saved. Works even on a post type where you have Locations turned off, so you can place them by hand and nowhere else.
Hide them on one post
Per post[sfb_hide]
Drop it anywhere in that post's content and the automatic buttons are left off — that post only, every other post unaffected. It prints nothing itself, so it does not matter where in the content it sits.
It only suppresses the automatic buttons. Pair it with [sfb] in the same post to move the buttons rather than remove them.
Use the widget follow text
Sidebars[sfb widget="Y"]
The same buttons, but labelled with Widget Follow Text instead of your usual follow text. This is what the Follow Buttons widget runs internally, so reach for it when you want that wording in a sidebar you are building some other way.
Pick a look from a dropdown, not a stylesheet.
Each one is a single setting. The colours below are the networks' own; override any of them and every button follows.
51 networks, and what each one asks for.
For most, you type only the part that comes after the address shown. Six have no single address to append to, so those take a whole profile URL.
The rebuild.
Eight PNG image sets and a custom-image uploader went out. Scalable icons, eleven themes and real colour controls came in. Your network selection and follow URLs are kept.
- Forty-one new networks, among them Instagram, YouTube, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, GitHub, Spotify, Twitch, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Flipboard, Medium, Behance and Dribbble.
- Eleven button themes with separate button and icon sizes, and a live preview on the settings screen that updates as you type.
- Inline SVG icons in place of PNGs, so they stay sharp at any size and can be recoloured without uploading anything.
- Its own dashboard menu. Follow Buttons is now a top-level item, with the core and styling tabs merged so the preview stays in view.
- Fixed: a fatal error on PHP 8, buttons opening in a blocked popup, settings left behind on uninstall, and stale caching of the plugin's own CSS.
- Gone: Google+ and Yummly. Twitter now links to x.com.
Free on WordPress.org.
Install it from your dashboard, or download the zip. GPLv2, no account, no key to configure, nothing that phones home until you tell it to.
Get the WordPress pluginEverything else you might be wondering.
Is Simple Follow Buttons free?
Yes. Every network, every theme and every setting is free. There is no paid tier and nothing to upgrade to.
Where are the settings?
In your dashboard under Follow Buttons. It is a top-level menu item, not an item under Settings.
What do I put in the follow URL field?
Just the part that comes after the address shown beside the field. Enter sharethis for Facebook and the button links to https://www.facebook.com/sharethis.
A few networks have no fixed address, so paste the complete profile URL instead: Mastodon, ResearchGate, WeChat, Bandcamp and Google Maps. The Email button takes an email address.
I picked a network but nothing appears on my site. Why?
A network is only rendered once you give it something to link to. Open Set Follow URLs on the settings screen and fill in your username or page for that network. Networks with an empty field are skipped rather than linking to an empty profile.
Can I put the buttons somewhere other than my posts and pages?
Yes, in three ways: the Follow Buttons widget, for sidebars and other widget areas; the [sfb] shortcode, anywhere shortcodes are allowed; or turn off Pages and Posts under Locations and use only the shortcode or widget.
How do I hide the buttons on one particular post?
Add the [sfb_hide] shortcode anywhere in that post's content. The buttons are left off that post, while every other post is unaffected.
Can I change the colours?
Yes. Leave the colour fields empty and every network keeps its own brand colour. Fill any of them in — button, button hover, icon or icon hover — and your choice is used for every button instead. The preview on the settings screen updates as you type, so you can see the result before saving.
Does the plugin load anything from ShareThis?
Only after you accept the ShareThis terms on the settings screen. Until you do, no ShareThis script is loaded and no request is made. The follow button icons themselves are served from your own site, not from a third party.
Does it work with a caching plugin?
Yes. The buttons are rendered as ordinary HTML with no per-visitor content, so they cache safely.
What happened to the image sets and the custom image uploads?
Version 2.0.0 replaced them with eleven button themes and colour controls. The icons are now scalable SVG, so they stay sharp on high-resolution screens and can be resized and recoloured without uploading anything.
If you were using a custom image for a network, pick the theme and colours that come closest. Your network selection, follow URLs and other settings are kept.
Simple Follow Buttons has been on WordPress.org since 2015. This is the same plugin, rebuilt: scalable icons, eleven themes, and every setting on one screen.