It is a big news, set to shock, amaze, and
entertain the world. But unfortunately, it's got nothing to do with
extraterrestrial stoners melding with Earth's plants. However, since you're now
reading, you'll almost certainly be interested in this research that looked
into the clicking and sharing behaviors of social media users reading content
(or not) and then sharing it on social media.
We here at IFLS noticed long ago that many of
our followers will happily like, share and offer an opinion on an article - all
without ever reading it. We're not the only ones to notice this. NPR shared an
article on their Facebook page which asked “Why doesn't America read anymore?”
The joke, of course, is that there was no article. They waited to see if their
followers would weigh in with an opinion without clicking the link, and they
weren't disappointed.
We've been hoping for a chance to try it
ourselves, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Yackler had some fun
with the same article and managed to fool a bunch of people. A group of
computer scientists into a dataset of over 2.8 million online news articles
that were shared via Twitter.
The study found that up to 59 percent of links
shared on Twitter have never actually been clicked by that person’s followers,
suggesting that social media users are more into sharing content than actually
clicking on and reading it.
“People are more willing to share an article
than read it,” the study’s co-author Arnaud Legout said in a statement,
Washington Post reports. “This is typical of modern information consumption.
People form an opinion based on a summary, or a summary of summaries, without
making the effort to go deeper.”
This study looks into the psychology behind
what makes people want to share content. Research conducted by The New York
looked into what motivates people to share information. Just under half of the
people asked in the survey said they share information on social media to
inform people and to “enrich” those around them.
Conversely, they found 68 percent share to
reinforce and project a certain image of themselves – in a sense, to “define”
themselves. In the words of one participant from the study: “I try to share
only information that will reinforce the image I’d like to present: thoughtful,
reasoned, kind, interested and passionate about certain things.”
It also raises the question of whether online
media is just a massive “echo chamber”, where we all just like pages and
viewpoints that reinforce our own beliefs and are not interested in information
for the sake of information. Even the algorithms of social media sites mean
that individuals or pages that you tend to click on, like, or share – which are
most often the articles or viewpoints that you agree with – will more
frequently turn up on your News Feed.

As a user of online media, you’re probably
quite aware of this. Take a look at any comment on social media pages,
including those, of course, on the Science Nature Facebook page. It’s
particularly noticeable on the more “emotive” and controversial of subjects;
think climate change, GMOs, vaccinations, aliens, and a lot of our articles on
marijuana, where the top comments often repeat or question something that is
fairly explicitly in the article, but not the headline.
Although from our analytics it's impossible to
see which users did not click through to the article yet shared it, there is
fairly often a slightly fine discrepancy between shares and page views which
doesn't quite add up, especially on those buzz subjects.
So, if you are one of the lucky few who
managed to click and read this article, we congratulate you! Although we do
apologize for the misleading headline. In the meanwhile, have fun sharing the
article and seeing who manages to chair a discussion on marijuana genetics,
without ever reading it.
Darn. What a disappointment.
ReplyDeletebrilliant.
ReplyDelete😄 good...
ReplyDeleteYou waisted my time!
ReplyDeletethats wasted, hun.
DeleteI was Soooo hoping. Disappointed..... Sniffle sniffle.... But so TRUE.
ReplyDeleteMe too
DeleteAnd you have further enriched my experience ?
ReplyDeleteNow do do an article about when meme headlines co-opts a linked story, twisting it in their own biased under meme post comments. Often in direct conflict to the article's points and known facts.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei’m so used to click bait — in spite of it being just that — that i couldn’t resist clicking and reading to get the “real” story. you didn’t disappoint... or you did... you did both i guess. 😉❤️
ReplyDeleteThis article was so much better than what I was expecting! I went in as a skeptic and came out in total agreement. Very true and funny.
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ReplyDeleteAwww I love this post. Big money coming. All I care about right now is not going to jail for taking a medicine that works. Best wishes
DeleteHa ha! Enjoyed your spoof, but you were a bit wordy after the initial bang. I was tempted not to read it all, but didn't want to fall into the category you were teasing.
ReplyDeleteI'm disappointed that the genetics angle wasn't a truth. But I am fascinated with your premise. I have absolutely wondered about that exact issue.
ReplyDeleteI was honestly curious about the plant. But now I'm wondering if i should do something like this to test my so called friends and family. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteI choose to enrich myself... Good article - humorous and sad at the same time.
ReplyDeleteso does this mean aliens smoke weed..? =;-)
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