There are plenty of metrics people like to use to determine the effectiveness of content. One of my quick and easy go-tos is number of social shares. Sure there’s plenty of nuance that goes into parsing the results (paid vs. organic for one), but a quick glance at the type of content being shared can give you a good idea as to what people are finding interesting.
Here’s a look at social shares off of articles published on Medium in the last year according to BuzzSumo (English language only):
A quick count gives us six political posts, one science post, one healthcare post, one crackpot theory post and one post that clearly outdistanced the rest.
“Stop Making Everything Perfect for your Kid” is no more than a five minute read, but it struck a chord. A quick search and you see it show up on Pinterest, message boards, mommy blogs and even a tweet from AOL founder Steve Case.
Why? Well the post obviously resonates with parents and the author does a good job using humor to make her points. “I don’t mean to brag, but my high schooler fails at quite a few things” is a brilliant section header.
The article mentions nothing about politics, unlike the majority of others in the top ten. Is it reductive to note that it has twice as many social shares as the popular partisan pieces?