How is content shared online?
One of the key issues for communications experts as they look to manage a diverse online media landscape is how to measure the reach of their content. While social interactions like shares and ‘likes’ are often used to understand these relationships, it is still hard to determine how effectively these reflect the actual reach of corporate…
One of the key issues for communications experts as they look to manage a diverse online media landscape is how to measure the reach of their content.
While social interactions like shares and ‘likes’ are often used to understand these relationships, it is still hard to determine how effectively these reflect the actual reach of corporate messages. Even harder to understand is why people are choosing to take these actions.
However, recent research from the US has given some insight into the behaviour that drives sharing and engaging with content online. The researchers, from Cornell University and Sapienza University of Rome, found that online content shares follow a ‘cascading’ model.
Underpinning this is that as people see others sharing content, they are more likely to also engage in the process themselves. While people often talk about content ‘going viral’ on the internet, the research suggests that the way information spreads actually has more to do with the decision-making of each individual.
One of the co-authors, Alessandro Panconesi, suggested this behaviour was often determined by the presence of an organisation which is pushing the spread of content.
“Often, cascading behaviour in a social network is guided by an entity that wants to achieve a certain outcome,” said Mr Panconesi.
“For example, a company might be trying to guide the adoption of a product by word-of-mouth effects, or a political movement might be trying to guide the success of its message in a population.”
Jon Kleinberg, another of the study’s co-authors, emphasised that this behaviour was closely linked to the strategies employed by an organisation.
“To our surprise, the success of the cascade can sometimes be greatly affected by this choice of timing – with the right timing strategy, the cascade can have a good likelihood of spreading very widely, while with the wrong strategy, it can have very little chance of going far,’ stated Mr Kleinberg.
For PR professionals looking to manage corporate affairs in an increasingly digital space, making the most of the these underlying communication trends is going to be vital.
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