[yllus]

I did click tracking on major Canadian websites such as Sportsnet.ca on these buttons (and everything else); we found that they're very rarely clicked and removing them would mean a completely insignificant change in the number of shares.

People do of course share those articles, but they don't seem to look for or trust web page share buttons. Even I rather copy/paste the URL into Facebook myself while on a desktop/laptop, or use my browser's built-in sharing functionality on a mobile device. This is all anecdotal but also based on data from hundreds of millions of page views.

[_bxg1]

Me neither! Especially when it's a Like button, it's not at all clear to me what that will actually do. That post doesn't actually exist on Facebook; perhaps it's linked to from there? So it'll have me "like" some unknown Facebook post that's associated with the article I'm reading? Which Facebook page will have posted that actual post? Etc. Uncertainty about what a button will actually do is a huge deterrent for users.

[chiefalchemist]

Did you look at the impact the buttons have on overall sharing? That is, might simply seeing the share buttons act as a trigger?