'''ShareThis''' is a technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, with offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contact Us - ShareThis |url=https://sharethis.com/contact/ |access-date=2022-06-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> It offers free website tools and plugins for online content creators. ShareThis collects data on user behavior, and provides this to advertisers and technology companies for ad targeting, analytics, and customer acquisition purposes.<ref>{{cite web |author= |date= |title=About |url=https://sharethis.com/about/ |work=ShareThis |format= |quote= |accessdate=June 6, 2022}}</ref> ShareThis has an exclusive license with the University of Illinois for patent applications made by co-founder [[David E. Goldberg]]. The patents include [[genetic algorithm]]s and [[machine learning]] technologies used for the purposes of information collection and discovery based on a user's sharing behavior.{{Citation needed|date = June 2015|reason = Needs reliable, third-party published sources (not from University, ShareThis, press releases, blogs, etc.) in order to keep this claim in the article.}}

==History== ShareThis was founded in 2007 by [[David E. Goldberg]], an engineering professor at [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]], and Tim Schigel.{{Citation needed|date = June 2015|reason = Needs reliable, third-party published sources (not from University, ShareThis, press releases, blogs, etc.) in order to keep this claim in the article.}}

In July 2011, Kurt Abrahamson joined the company as CEO and served for 7 years before transitioning into an Executive Chairman role.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2011/07/25/1204012/0/en/ShareThis-Names-Former-Google-AdSense-Executive-Kurt-Abrahamson-as-New-CEO.html |title= ShareThis Names Former Google AdSense Executive Kurt Abrahamson as New CEO |author= |date= July 25, 2011 |format= |work= GlobeNewswire |accessdate= September 16, 2019 |quote= }}</ref>

In February 2019, ''[[The Register]]'' published a story indicating that 16 companies, including ShareThis, were the victims of a security incident. A security breach exposed 41 million account records containing name, username, email address, DES-hashed password, gender, date of birth, and other profile info.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/11/620_million_hacked_accounts_dark_web/ |title= 620 million accounts stolen from 16 hacked websites now for sale on dark web, seller boasts |author= |date= February 11, 2019 |format= |work= The Register |accessdate= September 16, 2019 |quote= }}</ref> The data was listed for sale on the dark web, and following publishing of ''The Register''<nowiki/>'s article, ShareThis verified the breach and sent notifications to compromised users. ShareThis then launched an investigation with forensic and data security experts to review the incident and identify measures to improve security.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://sharethis.com/data-privacy-incident/ |title= Notice of Data Breach |author= |date= February 26, 2019 |format= |work= ShareThis |accessdate= September 16, 2019 |quote= }}</ref>

==See also== * [[List of social bookmarking websites]] * [[AddThis]] * [[AddToAny]]

==References== {{reflist}} * {{cite web |accessdate=2010-04-08 |url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/22/sharethis-addthis-facebook-twitter-google-buzz-consumer-data-cmo-network-sharethis.html?boxes=Homepagechannels |title=ShareThis Wants To Help Publishers Find Influencers |work=Forbes |date=2010-02-22 |author=Burkitt, Laurie |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130123142206/http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/22/sharethis-addthis-facebook-twitter-google-buzz-consumer-data-cmo-network-sharethis.html?boxes=Homepagechannels |archivedate=2013-01-23 |url-status=dead }} * {{cite web |accessdate=2010-04-08 |url=http://www.internetnews.com/webcontent/print.php/3805166 |title=ShareThis Expands Social Widget |work=Internet News |publisher=Jupiter Media |date=2009-02-20 |author=Needle, David }} * {{cite web |accessdate=2010-04-08 |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10047342-2.html |title=Is ShareThis the next Digg? |work=Webware |publisher=CNET |date=2008-09-22 |author=Needleman, Rafe }} * {{cite web |accessdate=2010-04-08 |url=https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2008/03/sharethis-lands/ |title=ShareThis Lands Another $15M in Funding |work=Wired |publisher=Conde Nast |date=2008-03-13 |author=McCarthy, Megan }} * {{cite web |accessdate=2010-04-08 |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9892624-7.html |title=Publisher widget ShareThis raises $15 million |publisher=CNET |date=2008-03-13 |author=Olsen, Stefanie }}

==External links== * [http://www.sharethis.com ShareThis.com website]

[[Category:Social bookmarking websites]] [[Category:Social software]]