News readers often click on articles not based on topic but rather the behavior of their fellow audience members, according to new research from the University of Georgia.
And the way that news organizations label those articles could directly influence how much attention they receive and ultimately impact their revenue.
When you go to a news organization's homepage, they typically label articles that readers are engaging with the most. The researchers focused on two common labels: "most shared" and "most read."
Tari Dagogo-Jack
"These types of labels are not going anywhere. Popularity even in news labels is a psychological phenomenon," said Tari Dagago-Jack, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of marketing in the UGA Terry College of Business. "Popularity labels on news outlets are taking advantage of the idea that we follow the lead of others and that our decision-making is influenced by what other people are doing."
Article section labels influence click rate
At first glance, you may assume that these labels, "most shared" and "most read," mean the same thing: A lot of people checked out the article. But there's a clear difference that consumers pick up on.
"If something is most shared, we might assume that means many people had to read it and then deem it interesting enough or important enough to pass it on," Dagogo-Jack said. "But then there's this other reality where we know a lot of things that are widely shared are often extremely frivolous like cat videos or funny memes."
In nine surveys and experiments involving hundreds of people, the study found respondents interpreted "most read" stories as being more informative. "Most shared" articles were viewed as less serious and more entertainment based.
The primary goal for reading news is to gain information, and the label 'most read' is a stronger signal of an article's information value." -Tari Dagago-Jack, Terry College
"We as readers have two primary motives: to be informed or to be entertained - that is, for a welcome diversion," said Dagogo-Jack. "At a baseline level, we were finding that people were choosing 'most read' at a way higher rate than 'most shared.' The primary goal for reading news is to gain information, and the label 'most read' is a stronger signal of an article's information value."
That means if editors want certain articles to get more attention, they should tailor the label to the readers' goals.
Knowing your audience, content is key for engagement
The same went for articles advertised on social media. Posts from faux news organizations that had captions describing a more educational article as "most shared" received fewer clicks.
This wasn't the case, however, for news stories that were less serious and newsworthy. In that case, the "most shared" label worked as well as the "most read" label.
It's a key message for reporters, editors and web developers: Know your audience and your content.
People should ask themselves: Why am I even clicking on this thing? Is it just because everyone else read it?" -Tari Dagago-Jack
"For pop culture, sports or music - more entertainment - in those sections you should highlight what is 'most shared,'" Dagogo-Jack said. "But for world news, politics and science sections, you should be using things like 'most read' or 'most viewed.'"
Dagogo-Jack also recommends putting thought into labels. Ambiguous choices like "trending" or "most popular" may stump readers altogether, as there are so many things this could mean.
"Providing these lists helps us get over information overload or choice paralysis," he said. "It's a crutch and makes the decision process easier, but I often wonder: At what cost?
"You're clicking on something that a lot of people like and social proof is valuable, but it may not necessarily provide what you are looking for, and you just gave up on the search. People should ask themselves: Why am I even clicking on this thing? Is it just because everyone else read it?"
This study was published in the Journal of Consumer Research and was co-authored by New York University assistant professor Jared Watson.
