Call it the science of social media, the psychology of sharing, the study of online behavior in the 21st century – it’s all the same: brands, marketers, publishers, curious minds trying to uncover the special sauce that makes people share. Sharing is the ultimate goal for these key players in the online ecosystem as they come to the realization that this simple act is quickly becoming the Web’s most worthwhile indicator of consumer influence and quality content. In short, sharing is the most important activity on the Web.That’s why it doesn’t surprise us that more studies and articles are popping up around just this topic. The New York Times Customer Insight Group recently conducted a thought leadership study entitled “The Psychology of Sharing,” which determines the motivations for sharing, sharing “personas” and what makes content share-able. They turned up some interesting conclusions, the first of which seems obvious, but bears repeating: the Web now allows us to share more content from more sources with more people more often more quickly. We’ll let you take a look at the study yourself, but this message stands out because it reinforces that, by nature, the Web is a chaotic place. We believe sharing brings order to the madness. Whether it’s to inform others, market our own brands or personalities, stay connected or spread the word, sharing is such a powerful action because it strikes an emotional chord, making content more personal and engaging. As an action that revolves around relationships – it can’t exist without a giver and a receiver – sharing turns the sterile environment of the Web into a warmer, more hospitable space.

A Fast Company article entitled “The Science of Social Media” also caught our eye recently. The story cites new research conducted by Medical Xpress, a web-based medical and health news service, that surveys social media sharing from a different angle and adds another interesting twist to the growing pool of knowledge on this topic. The key takeaway: get your audience riled up if you want them to share. It doesn’t matter if it’s with laughter or tears, a piece of content that stirs some type of emotion is more likely to be shared than one that leaves a user pleasantly content or altogether indifferent.

And that brings us back to our own research. This summer, we released the results of a study based on the largest analytic database of sharing activity that took into account 7 billion sharing signals generated by 300 million users across one million domains. We discovered that sharing generates more than 10 percent of all Internet traffic and 31 percent of referral traffic – almost half the volume of search. We also took a look at the ways people share depending on the type of content they’re sharing and discovered that sharers use specific social media channels for different content categories. For instance, entertainment news is primarily shared using Facebook while content that is informative is more likely to be shared via email or LinkedIn. We actually noticed that the New York Times study complemented these findings with their “six personas of sharers.” From the email-averse Hipster to the Twitter-savvy Boomerang to the networked Careerist, different personas tend to use different sharing channels, which fits nicely into our conclusion that different categories of content are shared via specific channels.

As brands, publishers and consumers tune into the vast power of sharing, we anticipate more research devoted to this topic. Half art, half science, these studies will unearth valuable information that will help publishers provide quality content and advertisers create highly engaging messages. We’re excited to be at the center of the Sharing Revolution and see this research as validation that we’re onto something big. After all, sharing is proof of engagement, it’s good and it’s catching on like wildfire.

by Kristen Fergason, CMO, ShareThis, Inc.

Follow Kristen on Twitter: @Sharekris

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