The gap between sharing and reading news on social media: A multi-method investigation

We investigate the gap between sharing and reading information on social media by multiple methods. Analysis of a neuroimaging dataset shows that news articles with high click-throughs on Facebook evoked greater value-related brain activity, while greater affect-related brain activity was associated with high share-forwards, suggesting that affective response drove the share-versus-read gap. In a separate field study of 297,765 Facebook posts of news articles from 518 US news organizations, we again found that strong affective responses were associated with excess share-forwards. Lastly, participants (N = 298) in an intervention study who were nudged to shift their focus from affect to utility showed greater alignment between click-through and share-forward intentions. Combining different methodologies, these studies highlight the role of affect in our desire to share partial information with others, independent of our desire to read them in full.