Display of content interaction data in a browser

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable computer program instructions embodied therein for providing interaction information for content items displayed in a browser used by a user, actions of the computer program instructions comprising:

• receiving a web page including a reference to a content item to be displayed within the web page;
• receiving the content item from a content server;
• displaying the web page, and a representation of the content item within the web page at a content item layout position;
• identifying a social networking service on which the user has an account;
• identifying, by the browser, connections of the user that have accounts on the social networking service;
• obtaining information about interactions of the connections with the content item from the social networking service;
• responsive to the obtained information indicating at least some threshold level of interactions of the connections with the content item, adding visual emphasis to the content item without changing the content item layout position.

A computer-implemented method for providing interaction statistics for content items displayed in a browser used by a user, comprising:

• receiving, by the browser, a web page including a reference to a content item to be displayed within the web page;
• receiving, by the browser, the content item from a content server;
• displaying, by the browser, the web page and a representation of the content item of the web page within a content area of the browser at a content item layout position;
• identifying, by the browser, a social networking service on which the user has an account;
• identifying, by the browser, connections of the user that have accounts on the social networking service;
• obtaining, by the browser from the social networking service, information about interactions of the connections with the content item, the interactions comprising at least one of:
• posting a message including the content item on the social networking service, designating approval of the content item on the social networking service, and posting a comment about the content item on the social networking service;
• and
• responsive to the obtained information indicating at least some threshold degree of interactions of the connections with the content item, adding, by the browser in addition to the representation of the content item, visual emphasis to the displayed representation of the content item without changing the content item layout position.