Interestingly, the Gawker redesign has stripped out Twitter and Stumble Upon—which used to sit next to each article, making it simple for readers to share stories with those services.

"We have Facebook," Gawker CEO Nick Denton told The Observer by email. "That's by far the biggest social source of traffic for us." 

Perhaps Facebook is No. 1, but aren't the other social services worth the small amount of real estate required for a widget? 

"These sites festooned with social media buttons--they look like primitive tribesmen clutching pathetically onto shiny baubles they believe to the symbols of modernity," quoth Denton. 

Moving "beyond the blog", as he put it in his manifesto on the redesign, seems to mean an emphasis on quality and clarity.

The gaggle of social widgets which have proliferated on so many media sites apparently don't square with Denton's efforts to update his brand and appeal to top tier advertisers. 

UPDATE: Stumble Upon Responds: We're Actually #1 For Social Traffic

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bpopper [at] observer.com | @benpopper