{"id":2088,"date":"2018-09-14T13:27:52","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T20:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/nosacredcows\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2018-10-19T05:31:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T12:31:38","slug":"study-confirms-most-people-share-articles-based-only-on-headlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/nosacredcows\/2018\/09\/study-confirms-most-people-share-articles-based-only-on-headlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Confirms Most People Share Articles Based Only On Headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Most people don\u2019t\u00a0read<\/em> the news. Instead, they read the headline and determine if it\u2019s worth sharing.<\/p>\n

The fact is that, just by getting this far in the article, you have defied a pattern and proven that some people\u00a0do<\/em> actually care about content. You\u2019ve shown that, although there is a clear trend regarding apathy about substance, it\u2019s possible to change that.<\/p>\n

Okay, so let me come clean. There\u2019s no new<\/em> study. But it\u2019s true that most people share and comment on articles after only reading the headlines, and that has been confirmed<\/a> by research in the past<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been guilty of sharing an article we haven\u2019t actually read<\/strong>\u2014or at least not all the way through\u2014but few of us have attempted to quantify or consider the ramifications of this effect.<\/p>\n

A recent study confirmed this phenomenon isn\u2019t in our heads; in fact, 59 percent of all links shared on social networks aren\u2019t actually clicked on at all<\/strong>, implying the majority of article shares aren\u2019t based on actual reading. People are sharing articles without ever getting past the headlines<\/strong>. So why is this the case\u2014isn\u2019t the body of an article supposed to be the most important part? What does this mean for content marketers? And what does this mean for our society?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Public<\/a>
The evolution of technology has made it easier to share news without even reading it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another famous example<\/a> of this disturbing phenomenon is when Science Post published a deceiving article (that made a great point). The content was essentially gibberish (it was Latin, which is pretty much the same thing) but the headline was popular.<\/p>\n

On June 4, the satirical news site the Science Post published a block of \u201clorem ipsum\u201d text under a frightening headline: \u201cStudy: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly 46,000 people shared the post, some of them quite earnestly<\/strong>\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, the headline isn\u2019t wrong, which is how I convinced myself to write this important piece. I realized that I couldn\u2019t knowingly spread \u201cfake news,\u201d but I wanted to make a point and show other people that we\u00a0are all susceptible\u00a0to it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We judge news based on the headline or the media outlet, or even the credibility of the person who shared the article, but the only way we can\u00a0truly<\/em> understand what\u2019s going on is if we take the time to read the piece for ourselves.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying you have to read every article you see. But if you\u2019re going to share an article and increase its influence, it may be worth checking it first. Except this article\u2026 this one you can share without reading. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

So, for my parting words, I\u2019ll leave you with this: think critically and stay skeptical!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yours in Reason,<\/p>\n

David G. McAfee (support my work here<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most people share articles after only reading the headlines, and that has been confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3933,"featured_media":2091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,12,175],"tags":[2580,671,2565,2583,2511,2571,725,2574,2568,309,2577,608],"class_list":["post-2088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-news","category-personal","tag-article","tag-fake-news","tag-headline","tag-intelligence","tag-misinformation","tag-most","tag-news","tag-people","tag-read","tag-skeptic","tag-story","tag-study"],"yoast_head":"\nStudy Confirms Most People Share Articles Based Only On Headlines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most people share articles after only reading the headlines, and that has been confirmed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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