ShareThis and Starcom MediaVest Group analyzed a database of over 7 billion sharing signals from ShareThis' network of over 300 million users and 1 million websites to study sharing behavior online. They found that sharing generates over 10% of all internet traffic, nearly half the volume of search traffic. Facebook is the largest sharing channel, accounting for 38% of shared clicks, but email accounts for 17% and other channels like bookmarking and blogs account for 34%. The type of content shared depends on the channel, with entertainment content more likely to be shared via social networks and informative content more likely to be shared via email or LinkedIn.

1. sharing
fans,
friends
and
More
than
just
followers
ShareThis
|
Rubinson
Partners,
Inc.
|
Starcom
MediaVest
Group
June
2011
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

2. ShareThis
is
the
largest
plaCorm
for
sharing
and
influence
across
the
web,
reaching
more
than
400
million
users
across
nearly
1
million
web
sites.
ShareThis
is
changing
the
way
informaIon
is
navigated
and
organized
according
to
the
way
people
interact
and
relate
to
each
other
online.
Based
in
Palo
Alto,
CA,
with
offices
in
New
York
and
CincinnaI,
the
company
is
privately
held
with
funding
from
Blue
Chip
Venture
Company,
Draper
Fisher
Jurvetson,
DFJ
Mercury,
Illinois
Ventures,
MaUhew
Pritzker
Company,
Queen
City
Angels,
RPM
Ventures,
and
Reservoir
Partners.
Starcom
MediaVest
Group
Starcom
MediaVest
Group
is
the
Human
Experience
Company.
Our
dream
is
to
grow
our
clients'
business
by
transforming
human
behavior
through
upliing,
meaningful
human
experiences.
These
brand
'experiences'
are
brought
to
life
by
disInct,
strategic
point-­‐of-­‐views—Truth
and
Design
and
Space
for
Ideas-­‐-­‐
created
and
owned
by
SMG's
two
global
agency
brands:
MediaVest
and
Starcom,
respecIvely.
Ranked
one
of
the
largest
brand
communicaIons
groups
in
the
world,
Starcom
MediaVest
Group
encompasses
an
integrated
network
of
human
experience
strategists,
investment
specialists,
content
creators
and
digital
experts
and
part
of
the
Publicis
Groupe
[listed
on
the
Euronext
Paris
Exchange
-­‐
FR0000130577
-­‐
and
part
of
the
CAC
40
index].
With
nearly
6,700
employees
in
110
offices
worldwide,
SMG
is
the
#1
ranked
Global
Media
Agency
(AdAge)
and
2011
Media
Network
of
the
Year
at
the
Global
FesIval
of
Media
as
well
as
the
most
celebrated
global
media
network
at
the
2010
and
2009
Cannes
InternaIonal
AdverIsing
FesIval.
Rubinson
Partners,
Inc.
Joel
Rubinson
is
President
and
Founder
of
Rubinson
Partners,
Inc.,
a
markeIng
and
research
consultancy.
Previously,
Joel
was
Chief
Research
Officer
at
The
ARF,
where
he
directed
the
organizaIon’s
research
prioriIes
and
iniIaIves
on
behalf
of
more
than
400adverIsers,
adverIsing
agencies,
associaIons,
research
firms,
and
media
companies.
Prior
to
joining
the
ARF,
Joel
held
senior
execuIve
posiIons
at
Synovate
North
America,
focusing
on
shopper
research,
and
NPD
Group,
leading
the
creaIon
of
tools
for
brand
equity
management
(BrandBuilder),
new
product
forecasIng
(ESP),
category
management
and
designed
many
of
their
data
collecIon
and
sampling
methodologies
as
NPD
changed
from
paper
diaries
to
online
research.
Joel
began
his
research
career
at
Unilever.
Joel
is
also
a
published
author
of
numerous
papers
in
professional
journals
and
frequent
speaker
at
industry
conferences.
He
has
taught
the
official
American
MarkeIng
AssociaIon
advanced
tutorial
on
brand
loyalty,
been
a
professor
at
NYU
and
lectured
at
Columbia,
Wharton,
Amos
Tuck
School,
and
the
University
of
Rochester.
Joel
holds
an
MBA
in
staIsIcs
and
economics
from
the
University
of
Chicago
and
a
BS
from
NYU.
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

3. INTRODUCTION
ShareThis
and
Starcom
MediaVest
Group
are
the
analysis
proud
to
announce
the
results
from
the
first
in
an
ongoing
series
of
studies
related
to
sharing
behavior
online.
Together
the
two
have
created
the
largest
largest
of
analyIc
database
of
sharing
acIvity
using
the
sharing
ShareThis
network.
7
BILLION
SIGNALS
ac6vity
300
MM+
USERS
1
MILLION
DOMAINS
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

4. SHARING
IS
BIGGER
CLICKING
ON
LINKS
BY
SHARING
CHANNEL
THAN
FANS,
FRIENDS
AND
FOLLOWERS
Other
Facebook
(Bookmarking,
Blogs,
etc)
38%
34%
Sharing
generates
more
than
10%
of
all
internet
traffic
(almost
half
the
volume
of
search)
TwiUer
Email
Facebook
is
the
sharing
largest
channel
11%
17%
at
38%
But
by
no
means
the
only
one,
with
Sharing
is
31%
of
email
accounIng
for
17%
site
referral
traffic!
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

5. THE
WAY
PEOPLE
SHARE
DEPENDS
ON
THE
TYPE
OF
Arts
&
Entertainment
65%
5%
CONTENT
Music
64%
2%
Entertainment
is
primarily
shared
using
Video
Games
46%
social
networks
29%
Business
&
Where
the
content
is
informaIve,
Investment
40%
34%
people
are
more
likely
to
use
email
and
LinkedIn
Health
&
Science
54%
31%
Facebook
MySpace
TwiUer
Email
Other
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

6. SHARING
IS
ABOUT
SCALE
AVERAGE
CLICKS
Reach
is
driven
by
the
first
share
OTHER
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
5.3
4.8
EMAIL
4.3
1.7
The
sharing
methods
drive
different
average
levels
of
sharing
average:
4.8
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

7. ARE
THERE
“INFLUENTIALS”?
Two
Schools
of
Thought:
These
hypotheses
would
imply
very
different
media
strategies,
so
it
is
important
to
idenIfy
which
is
true
INFLUENTIALS
NETWORKED
INFLUENCE
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

8. THE
MYTH
OF
THE
INFLUENTIAL
HOW
MANY
CATEGORIES
DO
PEOPLE
SHARE?
Sharers
tend
to
share
informaIon
about
90%
80%
specific
topics
that
interest
them,
rather
70%
than
having
influence
across
a
wide
range
60%
of
categories
50%
40%
30%
Therefore
marketers
should
not
focus
on
20%
a
small
number
of
influenIal
people,
but
10%
should
reach
as
many
people
as
possible
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
to
maximize
chances
of
further
propagaIon
Over
80%
of
people
share
only
one
category
in
a
month
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

9. SHARING
IS
ABOUT
MOMENTS
OF
RELEVANCE
The
ubiquitous
nature
of
sharing
means
that,
when
people
share,
it
is
an
‘of
the
moment’
look
into
their
specific
desires
By
building
audiences
around
these
moments
of
relevance,
marketers
can
reach
only
the
consumers
who
are
most
recepIve
to
their
messages
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

10. BUILDING
SCALE
BY
UNDERSTANDING
Arts
Business
CONTENT
Religion
Financial
Services
Entertainment
Music
SUPER-­‐CLUSTERS
Government
Law
Investments
Employment
Video
Games
Shop
Electronics
EducaIon
Technology
Certain
categories
go
together
Real
Estate
ParenIng
in
terms
of
if
one
is
shared,
the
Shopping
Beauty
Shop
Home
Garden
Health
other
is
more
likely
to
be
Shop
Clothing
shared,
giving
adverIsers
AutomoIve
Health
Fitness
Shop
Food
Drink
opportuniIes
for
greater
scale
Science
Shop
Pets
Shop
Beauty
Travel
Sports
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

11. sharing
SCALE
is
about
scale
and
RELEVANCE
relevance
To
benefit
from
sharing,
markeIng
efforts
can
be
planned
to
maximize
scale
and
relevance
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

12. REACHING
AUDIENCES
WHEN
THEY
ARE
MOST
RECEPTIVE
insights
for
marketers
Sharing
behavior…what
people
share,
what
they
click
on…reveals
what
is
relevant
to
them
at
that
moment
Marketers,
should
consider
sharing
to
be
a
sign
of
“inmarketness”
and
a
prime
audience
for
adverIsing
What
have
YOU
shared
today?
People
are
most
likely
to
be
sharing
and
clicking
while
brand
consideraIon
is
sIll
forming
so
sharing
offers
the
relevance
of
search
and
remarkeIng,
but
at
scale
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.

13. For
more
informa6on
about
this
study,
or
to
request
a
mee6ng
please
contact:
marke6ng@sharethis.com
ShareThis
|
Rubinson
Partners,
Inc.
|
Starcom
MediaVest
Group
June
2011
©
2011
ShareThis,
Inc.