The Follow Me WordPress Plugin (2008-2016)
In 2008, there was no “link in bio.” There was no bio, really. If you wanted the readers of your blog to find you on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Flickr, your options were to hand-code the icons into your theme or to list the URLs like a bibliography and hope.
We thought that was dumb. So we built a plugin.
One Button, All Your Profiles
The Follow Me plugin, launched in August 2008, did something that genuinely didn’t exist yet: it let WordPress users manage all of their social profiles from the dashboard and display them in one clean widget — no theme surgery required. Version 2.0 added the sticky sidebar button and a popup that displayed every profile with large icons. By the time version 3.0 shipped in September 2010, the plugin had been downloaded more than 35,000 times.
The supported network list is now a museum exhibit. Alongside Facebook and Twitter, Follow Me proudly connected your readers to Google Buzz, MySpace, FourSquare, Blip.fm, AIM, MSN Messenger, and Hyves.nl — the Netherlands’ answer to Facebook, which, like most answers to Facebook, is no longer taking questions.
Why We Retired It
Two things happened. First, the problem got solved everywhere: themes started shipping with social icons built in, and “aggregate your profiles” went from novel idea to table stakes. Second, our clients kept us busy. Ignite was founded in 2007 as the first exclusively social media agency in the United States, and as brands like Microsoft and Samsung came on board, building marketing programs won out over maintaining plugin compatibility with each new WordPress release. We officially retired Follow Me in 2016.
If you arrived at this page from a little “Follow Me” tab on the side of someone’s blog: first, hello. It’s genuinely delightful that it’s still out there. Second, if that blog is yours, we’d gently suggest replacing it. An unmaintained plugin is a security risk no matter how fondly we remember writing it, and your theme almost certainly handles social icons natively now.
We’ve Been Doing Social Since Before It Had Buttons
The original social media agency. Social First. Social Only.
What We Learned (and What We Do Now)
Follow Me taught us something that still shapes how we work: in social media, useful beats clever. The plugin spread because it solved a real problem for real people, for free — the same logic behind every piece of benchmark research and platform analysis we publish today.
Nearly two decades on, we’re not building widgets anymore. We’re building social media strategies, content programs, communities, and paid campaigns for some of the world’s most recognizable brands — social first, social only, since 2007. The tools changed. The instinct didn’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Follow Me WordPress plugin?
Follow Me was a free WordPress plugin created by Ignite Social Media in 2008. It let bloggers display links to all of their social media profiles in a single widget or sticky sidebar button, managed from the WordPress dashboard instead of hand-edited theme code. It was downloaded more than 35,000 times.
Is the Follow Me plugin still available or supported?
No. The plugin was retired and is no longer maintained, updated, or supported. No new versions have been released since the early 2010s.
Is it safe to keep the Follow Me plugin on my WordPress site?
We recommend removing it. Any plugin that hasn’t received updates in years is a potential security and compatibility risk — ours included. Modern WordPress themes and free social icon plugins now handle profile links natively and safely.
What should I use instead?
Most current WordPress themes include built-in social profile icons. If yours doesn’t, actively maintained free plugins in the WordPress.org directory provide the same functionality with current security standards. Look for one updated within the last few months with a large active install base.
Who built the Follow Me plugin?
The plugin was developed at Ignite Social Media, the first exclusively social media agency in the United States, founded by Jim Tobin in 2007. Development was led by Brian Chappell.