4 Comments
  1. Mark Strauss says

    We’ve been studying “Social Permittivity” or the measure of resistance to viral propagation induced by highly shared information, for some time.

    Very interesting stuff. Exceptions appear when individuals begin acting in a journalistic fashion—such as in a crisis—something that dates back to the use of HAM radio communications in the twentieth century.

    Mark
    @TOGOMedia

    1. Roger Dooley says

      Interesting, Mark. So, while a large number of shares may add credibility to an article, it may reduce the probability that a new visitor will share it?

      I think I’ve personally observed that in myself. I’ve read an interesting article, but when I see it’s been tweeted 5,000 times I figure I’m too late and people in my network will probably have read it.

      1. Mark Strauss says

        Roger:

        Exactly. The effect appears to influence a post or tweet’s potential to be shared in a viral manor. A high “Social Permittivity” also appears to reduce the level of network entanglement (i.e. a post being shared from one social network to another social network, as opposed to back to its original source).

        We ultimately, however, see little effect on organic SEO. It appears that most search engines do not significantly weight instantaneous propagation rate (we’re guessing).

        Thanks for posting. 🙂

        Mark
        @TOGOMedia

        1. Roger Dooley says

          As a recovering SEO, I’d guess some level of social sharing is good. A smart algo would probably adjust for overall site popularity. A Mashable post could be total drivel, but would likely get more shares than a superb post on a less-popular blog. Any published work on your analysis? Feel free to drop a link…

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