No One Actually Reads Viral Content

Most viral content is being shared by people who only read about one-third of the article. Now sites like Upworthy and Buzzfeed are looking for new metrics to measure their audiences.

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When posts from the likes of Upworthy and BuzzFeed enter timelines and streams, they’re likely to be shared extensively. By their nature, these sites see content live and die by social share counts. However new information from Chatbeat indicates that these social share numbers don’t necessarily mean any of the viral content is being read.

Tony Haite, CEO of Chatbeat tweeted “We’ve found effectively no correlation between social shares and people actually reading.” This may come as a shock to social media managers or any service trying to emulate the success of Upworthy.

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