Study: Few People Read What They Share

“I share, therefore I know?” asked the authors of a recent research article. In a series of seven studies, the researchers demonstrated that sharing content increased a person’s “subjective knowledge,” which is the belief that they know certain information rather than actually (objectively) knowing that information. Why would people believe something that is so obviously not true (if they think about it for just a minute)?

These researchers posited that we “internalize” these behaviors in social settings (including online), allowing the behavior (sharing knowledge) to inform how we think about ourselves.

So, we unconsciously believe that sharing something on social media means something: It tells others that we think we are knowledgeable about a particular topic.

People Don’t Always Read Before They Share

But what if we share something we didn’t read? It’s so easy to share information on social media (much easier than in a face-to-face conversation) that we may unthinkingly share an item without even clicking on it. Indeed, a majority of the time (59%!), people posting links on Twitter do not themselves click on the link they share.

“The ease of sharing via social media enables—and perhaps encourages—consumers to share information that they did not generate and have not even read.”

It turns out that participants who read a particular article reported higher subjective knowledge and objective knowledge, on average, than those who had not read the article. That’s what we would expect based on common sense. But here is the interesting finding: Participants who did not read a particular article—but shared it anyway—had higher subjective knowledge, but not higher objective knowledge. They felt like they knew about the topic, just from sharing it, although, of course, they did not.

The Takeaway

That way, we know that what we are sharing is accurate and a reflection of how we wish to portray ourselves. It also prevents us from succumbing to the psychological phenomenon of believing we are knowledgeable about a topic when we objectively are not. Reading generally makes us more knowledgeable, but not reading does not.

Conclusion

Most of us share links on social media without actually reading them, at least some of the time. Research suggests that sharing an unread article increases our subjective knowledge, making us feel we know about a topic even when we don’t. Obviously, sharing an unread article does not increase a person’s objective knowledge about a topic.

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/misinformation-desk/202212/study-few-people-read-what-they-share

What are your thoughts on gaining and spreading knowledge?

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