There used to be one neat trick that led to OMG results for publishers that shared their content on Facebook. But now that Facebook has tamped down on clickbait, publishers are putting an emotional spin on content whenever they can. Publishers are emphasizing stories designed to spark sadness, happiness or anger, whether through headlines or in the content itself, to stoke maximum engagement on Facebook.
For example, the Facebook-focused LittleThings shared a piece on Wednesday about two teenagers playing a prank on a classmate, nominating her for prom queen. The post got over 4,000 reactions and 800 shares, the second-biggest reaction to a LittleThings external link posted that day. (Some native content performed better, thanks to Facebook’s algorithm that privileges content publishers upload straight to its platform.)
