An important update to our recently published TrustServista News Verification Report reveals the different trends when it comes to content engagement on Facebook, segmented by the different source types.
The 17,000 English-language online articles analyzed in the report were collected over a period of 3 days (23 – 25 July 2017) from 7 different source types: news agencies, newspapers, magazines, blogs, satire websites, news aggregators and websites belonging to organizations.
This report update measures the number of Facebook engagements for all the 16,433 analyzed online articles in an effort to determine key aspects regarding “viralization” patterns for the different publication types.
The Facebook engagements overview is:
- Reaction count: 17,087,884
- Share count: 5,642,650
- Comment count: 4,937,846
The distribution per source type shows that, although blogs significantly outnumber each other source type when it comes to the number of published content, it is surpassed by newspapers in terms of total number of reactions (9,1M vs 6,3M). The difference can be noticed also for shares and comments.
| Source Type | Reactions | Shares | Comments | Articles |
| aggregator | 76,810 | 25,366 | 19,433 | 766 |
| blog | 6,325,327 | 1,930,565 | 1,070,030 | 7,481 |
| magazine | 984,585 | 403,306 | 384,779 | 341 |
| news_agency | 515,646 | 244,099 | 1,135,048 | 1,674 |
| newspaper | 9,109,349 | 3,018,775 | 2,313,717 | 6,107 |
| organization | 76,167 | 20,539 | 14,839 | 64 |
| Total | 17,087,884 | 5,642,650 | 4,937,846 |
This distribution pattern becomes even more obvious when looking at the average Facebook reactions, shares and comments per each source type:
| Source Type | Average Reactions | Average Shares | Average Comments |
| aggregator | 100 | 253 | 25 |
| blog | 846 | 2,283 | 143 |
| magazine | 2,887 | 140 | 1,128 |
| news_agency | 308 | 792 | 678 |
| newspaper | 1,492 | 2,024 | 379 |
| organization | 1,190 | 17 | 232 |
Articles generated by aggregators have the lowest Facebook reactions, followed by news agencies. Magazines stand out as a leader in generating reactions, but with extremely low shares count, an area where blogs and newspapers lead.
This shows how readers react differently on Facebook depending on the publication type: while they mostly share blogs and newspapers content, they are more likely to “like” and comment content generated by magazines.
Top 10 shares – articles
| URL | Share Count |
| https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16019892/solar-eclipse-2017-interactive-map | 237,124 |
| http://nypost.com/2017/07/24/man-sentenced-for-stabbing-date-119-times-after-learning-shes-trans/ | 109,864 |
| https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2017/07/24/wisconsin-company-install-rice-sized-microchips-employees/503867001/ | 63,348 |
| https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/24/microsoft-paint-kill-off-after-32-years-graphics-editing-program | 54,406 |
| http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40705466 | 52,129 |
| https://www.buzzfeed.com/farrahpenn/lush-introduced-a-harry-potter-themed-bath-bomb-an | 48,248 |
| https://ihavethetruth.com/2017/07/24/lesbian-couple-in-california-chemically-alter-their-11-year-old-boy-to-prep-for-sex-change-surgery/ | 43,254 |
| http://www.dailywire.com/news/18894/transgender-posts-photo-herself-apparently-hank-berrien | 42,957 |
| http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/24/wisconsin-company-to-implant-microchips-in-its-employees-in-august.html | 42,023 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-30-injured-found-inside-semi-trailer-walmart/story?id=48799989 | 36,065 |
Top 10 reactions – articles
| URL | Reaction Count |
| https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16019892/solar-eclipse-2017-interactive-map | 493,098 |
| http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40705466 | 266,910 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-30-injured-found-inside-semi-trailer-walmart/story?id=48799989 | 185,360 |
| http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gal-gadot-wonder-woman-little-girl_us_59756675e4b0e79ec19a3fcd?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009 | 150,815 |
| https://www.good.is/articles/obamas-achievements-in-office | 131,607 |
| https://www.good.is/articles/seth-rogen-twitter-trump | 127,749 |
| https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/24/microsoft-paint-kill-off-after-32-years-graphics-editing-program | 126,002 |
| https://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/gal-gadot-comforting-this-little-girl-is-proof | 124,017 |
| https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/my-only-regret | 119,722 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/family-brain-dead-california-girl-fights-reverse-death-48823445 | 113,577 |
Top 10 comments – articles
| URL | Comment Count |
| https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16019892/solar-eclipse-2017-interactive-map | 287,286 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/people-found-dead-truck-human-trafficking-crime-48800027 | 62,619 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/family-brain-dead-california-girl-fights-reverse-death-48823445 | 62,611 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/robot-finds-melted-fuel-heap-inside-fukushima-reactor-48797095 | 62,574 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/reasons-health-care-bill-fail-48800400 | 62,532 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/polish-president-sees-flaws-contentious-law-top-court-48789405 | 62,519 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/trump-tells-reporter-quiet-48819221 | 62,516 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/poles-protest-8th-day-contentious-judicial-48804292 | 62,498 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-calls-moderation-jerusalem-shrine-violence-48800328 | 62,491 |
| http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/immigrant-deaths-tractor-trailer-highlight-danger-heat-48806251 | 62,489 |
Facebook reactions distribution graph
To better understand how the Facebook reactions are distributed per content type, we devised value intervals that were applied to each source type:
- less than 500 reactions
- between 500 and 1,000 reactions
- between 1,000 and 5,000 reactions
- between 5,000 and 10,000 reactions
- between 10,000 and 50,000 reactions
- between 50,000 and 100,000 reactions
- more than 100,000 reactions
| Reactions | magazine | magazine % | newspaper | newspaper % | news_agency | news_agency % | blog | blog % |
| less than 500 | 211 | 61.9% | 4622 | 75.7% | 1526 | 91.2% | 5953 | 79.9% |
| (500, 1k) | 42 | 12.3% | 415 | 6.8% | 50 | 3.0% | 449 | 6.0% |
| (1k, 5k) | 67 | 19.6% | 736 | 12.1% | 37 | 2.2% | 766 | 10.3% |
| (5k, 10k) | 12 | 3.5% | 190 | 3.1% | 59 | 3.5% | 158 | 2.1% |
| (10k, 50k) | 7 | 2.1% | 115 | 1.9% | 2 | 0.1% | 121 | 1.6% |
| (50k,100k) | 1 | 0.3% | 7 | 0.1% | 0 | 0.0% | 4 | 0.1% |
| more than 100k | 1 | 0.3% | 22 | 0.4% | 0 | 0.0% | 2 | 0.0% |
