The World Wide Web woke to a subtle change this morning, that had some webmasters panicking and others shouting at their IT departments - why are we suddenly seeing a big blank where our Twitter share counts seem to be, especially on articles that have been well-shared across other social media platforms?
But it seems this wasn't a sudden business-draining move as the writing's been on the wall for a while now. In fact, the figures have been missing since 20 November, according to SmallBusinessTrends.
Back in September, Warfare Plugins wrote that the move was all about the money, in an article that's ironically been shared on Twitter 1,200 times since then.
Memeburn asks whether 'killing share counts' was in fact a smart move or simply self-destructive, especially as statistical proof is the lifeblood of most online advertising and marketing strategy.
If enough people complain there's a chance this will be re-enabled, but it seems unlikely at this stage.
Follow the #SaveOurShareCounts hashtag and share your thoughts below!
