SurveyMonkey recently carried out a study online revealing that the more popular content is on social media sites Twitter, Facebook and Google+, the more likely it is to be read by users.

The survey collated the opinions of 629 participants. Of these, 374 were asked the likelihood of them reading an article on Facebook that had already accumulated more than 451 ‘Likes’. The remaining respondents were asked about the likelihood of them reading an article that had just 11 likes. The results showed that Facebook users were much more likely to read an article if it had a higher number of likes.

Similarly with Twitter, respondents were reportedly much more likely to read content that had experienced a large number of retweets. Again, those in the larger group of participants were asked about the likelihood of them reading content if it had experienced just six retweets, while the smaller group of participants was asked about the likelihood of reading an article with 697 retweets.

On Google+, the results were the same. The people in the larger group of participants were asked about the likelihood of them viewing a picture that had been shared on the social media site 312 times, while the others were asked the same question for a picture that had been shared just twice.

The survey’s participants were selected randomly from across the U.S., representing an almost equal number of females and males aged between 18 and 60. The household incomes of respondents ranged between $25k and $150k, and education levels also varied.

The results of this survey may have just confirmed what many businesses already knew, but they do hint at the advantages of tapping into the zeitgeist to drive content through social media. An increasing number of businesses today make use of popular culture and current affairs to improve readership figures.

Richard Bell

Richard has a First in English Literature and Creative Writing, and has experience writing fiction and short stories (which he has published both online and in magazines).