Dark Social Sharing Accounts For 69% Of All Social Sharing

“Dark Social” refers to the portion of referral traffic that lacks the necessary information to be traced back to its source. In a study released this week by social engagement firm RadiumOne, the company determined that dark social sharing accounts for a massive 69% of all social sharing.

The term “Dark Social” was first coined two years ago by Alexis Madrigal, when he introduced the idea in a report that stated almost 69% of social referral traffic to publishers was “dark.” It may only be a coincidence that RadiumOne’s study came up with the same percentage, however, Tynt, another provider of social engagement tools, estimated the number to be in excess of 70% earlier this year.

Some examples of dark sharing include sharing over email, texts, messages and forum posts. Links shared by these channels are often considered to carry much more weight than a Facebook post or a Tweet. Whatever the sources are, this activity is important for marketers to understand.

For RadiumOne’s study, more than 9,000 people were surveyed. It was found that only 23% of social sharing takes place across Facebook, while 32% of the people surveyed share online only via “the dark social.”

The following chart by Statista illustrates these findings:

Marketers will certainly be taking note of this interesting data. Some of the other key findings of the survey include:

• 84% of people across the globe share content online.
• 32% of those who share content do so only via the dark social.
• Sharing activity through dark social is three times the volume of Facebook, the world’s most popular networking site.
• The topics that are shared the most via dark channels are ones which are typically one-to-one in nature, including arts and entertainment (80%), careers (78%) and travel (78%).
• Topics discussed over social channels, such as networking sites, are typically one-to-many in nature, such as pets (84%), family and parenting (63%) and real estate (55%).
• 36% of dark social sharing is done through mobile devices.
• 91% of Americans regularly share information through dark social channels.
• Older users are more likely to share over the dark social more often.

So, what does this all mean for marketers? It’s clear, based on this study, that a majority of people are choosing to not share too much information over social channels. RadiumOne CEO, Bill Lonergan, shed some light on how advertisers can utilize this information by sending out content to specific audiences. “If you’re sharing with a specific individual or small group, you are using that content to tailor your image in the eyes of just those people,” explained Lonergan. “It’s the difference between what you’ll tell your best friend and what you’ll say loudly at a party.”

Understanding the massive amount of dark social sharing that is occurring is important for marketers and can potentially provide them with a competitive edge. “They must harness dark social and short URL sharing to understand consumer interests and intent and act on the insights in real time,” said Lonergan. “The result is a significant improvement in ROI of social media and digital marketing investments.”