In a study conducted by Microsoft and Columbia University, it has been revealed that 59 per cent of the links shared on micro-blogging site Twitter are never clicked, including people who share them.
The study is based on data collected over a month by researchers from Microsoft and Columbia University, which included almost 2.8 million shares on Twitter, reported Fortune. The researchers also said that this study is the first of its kind and has been published on an open-access platform.
The shared links were mostly related to prominent news networks including BBC, CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post.
The study further pointed out that there is a lot of content that users tend to share on Twitter but very few they are willing to click on. Only few ‘blockbuster articles’ generate bulk of actual clicks, with 9 per cent of shared links amounting to 90 per cent of the total Twitter clicks.
Moreover, the study also discovered that Twitter’s plays a longer role than just a ‘live platform’ as links posted on it keep on receiving clicks and shares, even after the 24-hour mark.
Another major finding of the study pointed out that click baits or exaggerated headlines by news and media outlets maybe exactly what social sharers are looking for but not for an actual reader who is looking out for apt information.
The study concluded pointing out that social sharing is rarely related to news impact unlike how it is generally assumed.
