Can we talk about that stat that 90% of viral news stories are shared without being read first?

I stumbled on this fact from a study by Columbia University last week. They tracked 2,500 people on Facebook and found that only 1 in 10 actually clicked the article before hitting share. The rest just shared based on the headline alone. I started digging into it because my cousin kept forwarding me wild claims about vaccines and I got tired of fact checking him. So I pulled up the full PDF from the study and it blew my mind. It said things like disaster stories and celebrity rumors are the most shared without reading. Now I wonder how many of us are guilty of this too. Has anyone else seen this study or got a stat that made you rethink how you share stuff online?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavin_kelly9111h ago

Ask your cousin if he even read the full vaccine article before sending it, or was he just reacting to the headline? I think the worst part is when these stories hit your feed and everyone shares the same outrage without clicking through. Like, I almost shared a story about a celebrity saying something wild last week, then I actually read it and the headline completely twisted what they meant. Did the study mention if people get defensive when you call them out on sharing without reading?

evan_wilson1811h ago

Oh man, I've been there. My uncle sends me stuff all the time and I just started replying with "did you read past the first paragraph" and it actually made him stop. What worked for me was keeping it light, like "hey I know you're busy but the actual study said something different" rather than accusing them directly. @gavin_kelly91 you're right about the defensiveness though - my friend got really mad when I pointed out he shared a fake quote from 2012, so now I just send the real article link after they share something with a "oh interesting, here's what I saw about that" and let them figure it out. The study thing about defensiveness is real, people dig in harder if you call them out, so I've learned to just plant the info and move on.