Rich Get Richer: Study Finds The More Content Is Liked, The More It’s Likely To Be Shared

According to an online survey conducted by SurveyMonkey, the popularity of content on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ significantly impacts the likelihood it will be read.

Out of 629 participants, 374 were given a survey asking how likely they were to read an article on Facebook that already had 451 Likes. The remaining 255 respondents received a survey asking how likely they were to read an article with only 11 Likes. Survey responses demonstrated users were more likely to read an article with a higher number of Likes on Facebook.

The same was true for Twitter, with respondents more likely to read content that had been retweeted a greater number of times. Of the 629 respondents, 374 were asked how likely they were to read an article that had been retweeted only six times. The remaining participants were asked how likely they were to read an article that had been retweeted 697 times. Respondents were much more likely to read the content that had been retweeted 697 times.

The impact of Google+ was no different. Of the 629 respondents, 374 were asked how likely they were to view an image that had been shared on Google+ 312 times. The remaining 255 respondents were asked how likely they were to view an image that had been shared only two times. As with the other social media sites, respondents were more likely to view an image that had been shared 312 times versus an image that had only been shared twice.

Conducted by SurveyMonkey, the study surveyed 615 respondents randomly selected from across the county. Respondents included a nearly even split of males and females age 18 to 60 with annual household incomes ranging from $25,000 to $150,000+ and varying education levels.

The purpose of the survey was to examine SEO assumptions. Other key findings from the survey have been published on our partner site Search Engine Land, including user bias toward Google over Bing, as well as insight into reasons why a user would block a website from search results if given the option.