Promote This! Plugin for Movable Type
I was surprised to discover just how hard it was to find a plugin that would help me add a "digg this" link to my site. So as I was coding up an overly complicated set up Movable Type Template Tags it occurred to me that there is a simpler way.
So I created the Promote This! plugin for Movable Type. Promote This provides a set of super-simple template that makes it crazy-easy to compose links to your favorite social bookmarking, and social news services like del.icio.us, digg (my favorite), reddit and Newsvine URLs.
What support for another service? Just let me know and I will add it!
Reference
Here is the current list of supported template tags:
<$MTLinkedInURL$><$MTAddThisURL$><$MTDiggURL$><$MTdeliciousURL$><$MTredditURL$><$MTNewsVineURL$><$MTFurlURL$><$MTFarkURL$><$MTGoogleURL$><$MTSpurlURL$><$MTMyWebURL$><$MTBlinkListURL$><$MTBlinkBitsURL$><$MTConnoteaURL$><$MTFeedMeLinksURL$><$MTShadowsURL$><$MTSimpyURL$><$MTStumbleUponURL$><$MTLinkrollURL$><$MTBlogMarksURL$><$MTFaceBookURL$><$MTSphereItURL$><$MTMagnoliaURL$><$MTTechnoratiURL$>
So to create a "digg this" link on your Movable Type blog, here is the template code you would use:
<a href="<$MTDiggURL$>">digg this</a>
It can't get much easier than that. Can it?
Installation
To install the plugin:
- Download Promote This.
- Set the current working directory to your
MT_HOME(whereMT_HOMEis the same directory in whichmt.cgican be found). - Unzip the Promote This archive file - doing so will place all of Promote
40 Comments
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Does this on Dynamic templates in Movable Type 4.0?
Byrne
Very nice and handy little plugin :)
The only thing it's missing is icons!
Michele
I love this plugin! However, my stumbleupon one isn't working (see my blog link). Also, could you create one for technorati?
The StumbleUpon doesn't work for me either. It adds href= before the URL of the submitted site.
Hi Byrne -
Any recommendation of a plug-in which allows readers to mail a page?
Geoff Fox
This is a WONDERFUL plugin, another great way to market a site. Thanks!
Exactly what I was looking for - thanks for keeping it simple.
@Shane - Promote This is compatible with MT4 and dynamic publishing.
Support for StumbleUpon has been fixed. Thanks!
Thanks very much for the plugin...it's just what I was looking for!
Is there any chance of adding Technorati or ma.gnolia?
@cognitive dissident - Done and done. You can download Promote This 1.09 now.
Thanks so much for the updates; your work is greatly appreciated!
Forgive me for asking but where exactly do you paste this URL:
Thanks, Jim
@JimmyTomato - I might place it right next to the comment count in the entry meta data area.
I thought I would let you know that I noticed that the '&t=' in the PromoteThis.pl file for Facebook functionality needs to be changed to '&t=' in order for pages that use this to validate. It seemed like an oversight since it is correct in the php file. Hope this helps. Thanks for the plugin! I love it!
-Grady
Fixed! Promote This 1.12 has been released!
GREAT plugin -- just what I've been looking for. thank you.
Hello. Do you know a good "email this to a friend" solution for MovableType? Thank you!
Hi!
Uh oh, I placed
into my Sidebar template, and it gives me the error
'Can't call method "permalink" on an undefined value at ...PromoteThis.pl line 49.'
It looks from the Perl code like the argument passed into DiggURL (which is called $ctx) doesn't contain an 'entry' in its stash hash.
Obviously, I have no idea what this means or how this function is called. :)
Never mind, I figured out that I need to surround the call with <MTEntries>. It's in the README file, although not on the main PromoteThis Web page.
I have a problem with the Fark code. When in dynamic publishing, it gives the following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: unescape() in /home/critica3/public_html/cgi-bin/mt/php/plugins/function.mtfarkurl.php on line 7
The rest of the page stops loading at this point. I can remove the Fark tag and all works fine...
Same problem as Steve. I think this just started happening with 4.2.
Thank you so much for a GREAT plugin! It is EXACTLY what I was looking for to assist in promoting local business ads and videos on social networks. Thanks, again, Byrne.
I wonder if the full step-by-step description can be given about how to install the Promote This plugin.
It looks like the third step in the list of installation steps above is incomplete (ending with "...doing so will place all of Promote") and I'm unclear about what the step(s) should be for complete installation.
I'd like to take advantage of this great plugin but I don't understand the full installation process.
Thanks!
doesnt work whit movable type 4.21
Thanks for all your work on this great plugin!
Great plugin! I've sent in some code that implements Linkedin and AddThis tags in this plugin as well, I hope they are useful and will be added!
If anyone else needs these right now before they are added to the official version, please contact me for the code.
Hi, I'm trying to use this plugin for the movable type site we have, justseeds.org. I'm going to ask a question that will indicate how little I know about all this. I've downloaded Promote this! but I don't know what it means to set the current working directory to mt_home. Can you give me a hint? Thanks in advance!
@roger - Let's see if the article I just wrote will help you... feedback welcome!
Thank you for writing this plugin! It took me all of 6 minutes to install and setup. I just upgraded to the new MT 4.23 last night and it works perfectly.
The comments and responses posted here were very helpful.
I hate to admit it, but I wussed out on MT and went to Joomla. There were just so many plug-ins that were already mature in that CMS.
It's a shame, because I really like the look and feel of Movable Type.
thanks for keeping it simple.
Top plugin--thanks for sharing--Andy
This is exactly what we were looking for.. thanks for the plugin!
Hi Byrne, Great plugin, many thanks. I did notice the LinkedIn tag produces an error upon publishing. I'm not a terribly technical person, but it looks like the MTLinkedInURL tag is not defined in the .pl file. Also, the php function for LinkedIn is missing. I just added Twitter functionality and it shouldn't be too hard to fix the LinkedIn one, but I just wanted to let you know in case other people were wondering. All the best, Matthijs
Thanks for this plugin, i've been using it for a while, love it. However, wondering if you will be able to support Twitter to the list? Just a click to post a re-tweet would be nice? :)
i cannot get this plugin to work. i have uploaded the files to the required directories but the plugin is not showing up in the plugins page. i am using MTOS.
@Abhishek - Are you looking at the blog level plugin listing page, or the system level?
Excellent! Thanks for your posting.
Excellent! Thanks for your posting.