Social Media Shortcodes
by Michael Beckwith · Social
Also makes 8 other plugins · 340+ installs across the portfolio →
Registers shortcodes for your posts, pages, or post types that display user profile links to various social media websites.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
B 71/100
Stale · Few reviews
Active installs
40+
≈40 estimated
Momentum
+30%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “shortcodes” and “social media” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
71 health vs 58 average across 1,835 Social plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.4%
of downloads still active
At least 40 of 9.8K lifetime downloads are still running, in line with its category: the median Social plugin keeps 0.5%, across 1,276 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Social plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 418 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.8.12, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 2 reviews, smoothed to 4.13★ and held back under 25 reviews
2 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
43
Momentum
Holding steady
+0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
25%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
+0.4
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| digg | #12 | #17 | up 1 |
| shortcodes your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| social media your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
17 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 1 listed. 16 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “shortcodes” and “social media” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 170 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #21,400 to #22,800, alongside the other plugins at 40+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 1 Nov 2026.
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
Downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites.
Not enough installs to measure. This needs at least 100 active sites; below that, a handful of downloads reads as tens of thousands.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
1.1y ago
latest release · v1.3.2 · 10 Sep 2025
10
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 68% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “40+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 6 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 40.
At the current install trend, crossing 50+ in roughly 736 days.
Install history since 22 Apr 2016
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ somethingelse13.8y ago
we have many authors/presenters/teachers on our site, and have been looking for a simple way to be able to include their personal socmed links in a way that’s flexible and attractive. this does EXACTLY that! Thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Jeff Sebring13.9y ago
The plugin does just what it says it does, and is well coded. Notifies users of missing critical attributes.
Read on wp.org ↗
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceAll 2 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (1.3.2). Sites still on an older version should update.
- Patched Medium · 6.4 Social Media Shortcodes <= 1.3.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗2025-09-16 CVE-2025-10166 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.3.1 Patched in 1.3.2
- Patched Medium · 6.4 Social Media Shortcodes <= 1.3.0 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗2024-12-11 CVE-2024-11871 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.3.0 Patched in 1.3.1
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
4 of 8 pass · checked 29 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Registers shortcodes for your posts, pages, or post types that display user profile links to various social..."
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and 4 more.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 1 list; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,028 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 2 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-27 30+ → 40+ up after 141 days in tier
- 2026-06-08 20+ → 30+ up after 4 days in tier
- 2026-06-04 30+ → 20+ down after 12 days in tier
- 2026-05-23 40+ → 30+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-05-22 30+ → 40+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2026-05-19 40+ → 30+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2026-05-15 30+ → 40+ up after 5 days in tier
- 2026-05-10 40+ → 30+ down after 2 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A -
AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Astra Widgets 200K+ installs · 3.9★ · 1 shared tag A -
Social Sharing Plugin – Sassy Social Share 100K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag C -
Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Simple Social Icons 100K+ installs · 4.2★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Social Media Shortcodes into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/social-media-shortcodes" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Social Media Shortcodes — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Social Media Shortcodes: 40+ active installs, 5.0★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/social-media-shortcodes
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