Positive language about learning new things and serving the self-interest of readers is the most common characteristic of blog post titles that get shared the most on Twitter, according to new analysis posted on the blog Smart Data Collective.
An analysis of 3,000 titles concluded that the words increase, socialize, automate and manage appear most in posts that prove popular. Terms including write, talk and trust appear to have a negative weight on the likelihood of a post being retweeted.
Authored by Greek data mining consultant Themos Kalafatis, the post and graphs are based on a variety of predictive analysis methods. Kalafatis calls these insights “one more example on how Predictive Analytics may help professionals to make better decisions.”
That is no doubt true in the short term, but metrics like these also demonstrate the disincentive that content producers feel to produce thoughtful titles concerning long-term potential considerations instead of the immediate self-interest of readers.
See also: Want That Post to Go Popular? Here’s The Best and Worst Times to Post It
Any time spent looking at the titles on mass market magazines at the supermarket show that immediate, base self-interest is what moves readers. Apparently that same formula holds true in the era of new, democratized, decentralized publishing. Even when anyone can write anything, readers still seem to want – and be willing to share – the same kinds of content. That’s a little sad.
On the other hand, as a medium of personal empowerment perhaps it’s good news that tutorial content is readily available, widely shared and most incentivized in the open social Web.
Might readers come for the how-to’s and stay for the analysis-based content? Time will tell.
