What kind of articles are easy to share?

As a graduate of Stanford University, Berger is has a habit of reading the Wall Street Journal every day. The newspaper has a layout that usually lists a list of the most read articles and the most shared articles.

Berger found that these two lists are usually not the same, and some articles, though read in large quantities, are not shared. So what kind of articles are more likely to be shared by people?

An article recently published by The New Yorker explains the problem. Its answer is just a summary of why the content of BuzzFeed, Upworthy and other news aggregation sites can be wildly shared on social networks. Last December's data feedback, Facebook's top three-ranked media were BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and Upworthy.

The following are some of the features that are often shared by the article, which is summarized here:

1. The theme of the article is positive, after reading to let the reader feel excited. Articles that evoke emotional responses from readers are definitely more popular than articles that have no effect on readers ' moods. What's more, the articles that bring happiness are better than those that bring a sad mood. For example, "stunned new immigrants really fall in love with the city" than the "network rumors of Korean female artists suicide message" more easily shared.

2. Make the user very angry and panic articles. While encouraging positive content is more popular, it is also highly likely to be shared if the user's mood is intense enough, such as anger and panic. Such things as political scandals and factors that cause high cancer.

3. Let the reader feel not only clever, but also well-informed, well-informed. When readers share some content, they often want to express this content I can understand, or want to enhance their friends among the "well-informed" image. For users, sharing the content is a way to improve their image in the social circle.

4. Practical and easy to remember content. This is why the content of the "list" is popular. Because they are simple, practical and easy to remember. Users who share practical content will feel they are helping their friends around. And easy to remember will always be taken out as a conversation.

5. Valuable stories. Everyone likes to have stories, the better the story, the more exciting people are and the more likely they are to be shared. Therefore, some articles are popular not only because it has a teaser title, but the quality of the content itself is high.

These are some of the features of the "high-share article" mentioned in The New Yorker article. These summaries do not come out of thin air, but are the Jonah Berger that are mentioned at the beginning of this article, the current professor of marketing at the Wharton School, after years of experimentation and research. He also wrote his research into a book published last year, "The Mad Biography" (Contajious).

However, Berger also points out that the irony is that the more data we collect and the more we understand the rules behind it, the less value they play. Just like if the articles that are shared are strictly based on these laws, then some people will gradually not share the content, such as chicken Soup for the soul.