The social buttons are here to stay because the people in charge are desperate for traffic. That is the #1 reason, desperation. Sometimes they end up including them 2 or 3 times on the same page. We can thank people like mashable and huffington post for the bad habits.

Perhaps in a few years the madness will stop and people will focus more on fast loading websites, good content, and a good user experience.

Or maybe I'm wishful thinking.