NewWhipe, (a company that tracks the world's news stories as they're shared on social media) released a new study that takes a closer look at how important Facebook is getting for online publishers.
Here are some key takeaways:
24.8 million is the number of average daily total likes, comments and shares of news and similar content on Facebook in April 2014.
Nightly viewers of the top 3 US network news shows are 20 million. Which shows that News content on Facebook is growing fast.
In April, stories about music were very likely to attract high interactions, while Business and lifestyle stories were less likely.
An interaction breakdown for some popular categories shows that Movie content is highly liked, while health stories are very likely to get people sharing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, political stories has the highest share of comments.
The below infographic visualizes the rise in sharing of news on Facebook in 2014 along with the biggest stories, sites, most popular categories and more.
And, perhaps more important, the graphic explains some tips for making the most of Facebook. Take a look at few of them.
Think of Facebook as your alternative front page:
Soon (already?) more of your traffic will come from Facebook than your normal front door. So make sure you're presenting good images, headlines, and excerpts to anyone who stumbles on your content via their news feed.
Watch how other publications present - and headline - their stories:
Sometimes a publication can nail the right way to share a story for social. Watch and learn.
Share video content associated with a story:
In April 2014, 8 of the top 20 Facebook stories were video driven. Facebook's video autoplay feature means that one of the most popular forms of content on Facebook has more prominence than ever on timelines.
