We know people prefer to use email to share content they find interesting with their friends but more interesting is knowing what they share and why. There are some answers now: according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania who spent more than six months studying The New York Times’ list of most-emailed stories, people are more likely to pass along stories that are positive, long and intellectually stimulating.
Researchers found that popular stories often inspired a sense of awe by tackling a broad topic and requiring the reader to approach the subject from a fresh angle. Researchers say these articles are popular because they create emotional connections between the person sending the article and its recipient. “Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion,” the researchers said.
A picture is worth a thousand words and if I could present these findings in visual way I think the picture below speaks for itself, doesn’t it make you go AWE?
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