The news and information that U.S. adults actually read doesn't always match up with the topics they claim they want covered more, according to data from traffic analytics company Parse.ly and an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.
Data: Axios/SurveyMonkey poll, Parse.ly; Note: Media, celebrity, local news and transportation topics were not tracked by both data sets and were omitted from analysis; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
The big picture: Entertainment and emotionally charged topics over-index on how much they are read vs. readers' stated coverage preferences. More academic, less personality-driven issues end up getting read less.
By the numbers: Demand is defined as the total number of views for a topic divided by the number of articles written about that topic.
According to traffic data pulled from Parse.ly's 2000+ publisher member sites for the month of May, demand is highest for news about politics and government, followed by sports and immigration.
But while the demand for those topics is high, most consumers said in an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll that they want more news about health care, followed by climate/environment and education. Respectively, those topics ranked 7th, 5th and 11th out of more than a dozen topics in terms of demand.
Similarly, only 5% of total U.S. adults surveyed said they want more sports coverage, but sports has the third-highest demand, according to Parse.ly.
Be smart: This behavior is a symptom of our era of passive news consumption: When news is sprinkled into our social media feeds and accessed in other on-the-go environments, the items that will satisfy us in that moment will be the ones that get clicked.
An acknowledgement of important topics for coverage doesn't translate to real reading behaviors, which tend to be less holistically considered and more spontaneous.
It's easy to blame the media for overblown media coverage, but it's only half to blame. Publishers have to respond to what people actually read — not what they say they want.
It's also important to note that individual topics will vary in interest from month-to-month based on the news cycle. Interest in a topic like national security can depend on how close it runs to other wrought issues, like the role of the president in the issue or a specific storyline.
The big picture: Media companies struggling to find their footing are looking for ways to better connect with consumers. This involves finding new verticals and topics to write about, as well as more innovative ways to cover traditional topics.
Our thought bubble: Successful subscription models are able to sidestep the traffic trap of covering easy-gratification topics for clicks by reaching audiences in more intentional consumption environments — newsletters, magazines and streaming services.
President Trump's tweets don't pack the punch they did at the outset of his presidency. His Twitter interaction rate — a measure of the impact given how much he tweets and how many people follow him — has tumbled precipitously, according to data from CrowdTangle.
Why it matters: It's a sign that his strongest communication tool may be losing its effectiveness and that the novelty has worn off.
Trump's interaction rate has fallen from 0.55% in the month he was elected to 0.32% in June 2017 — and down to 0.16% this month through May 25. (The metric measures retweets and likes per tweet divided by the size of his following.)
Data: CrowdTangle; Note: Interaction rate is retweets plus likes per tweet divided by total followers. Explore the tweets that got the most interactions by month here; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios
Trump's lines of attack have been repeated so much that they don't shock anymore, says Toronto Star Washington bureau chief Daniel Dale.
Because norm-breaking tweets have become the new norm, Dale says, he doesn't cover them as often — and therefore, casual readers hear about them less.
Attacking the Mueller investigation went from scandalous to routine for Trump, and accusing government officials of treason went from groundbreaking to commonplace.
Since April 1, Trump has tweeted about:
"No Collusion" 54 times
"No Obstruction" 30 times
"Witch Hunt" 20 times
"Hoax" 19 times
"Radical" Left/Democrats 17 times
13 or 18 "Angry Democrats" 12 times
"Presidential Harassment" 10 times
"Treason" 7 times
The big picture: While the number of interactions per tweet Trump generates has increased 21% between his first six months and most recent six months, it lags way behind his follower growth of 110%.
And he's tweeting more, which could make any individual tweet less likely to stand out.
The pace of Trump's tweeting has picked up over the course of his presidency, from 157 times per month during his first 6 months to 284 times per month over the last 6 months.
May is on pace to be the lowest month for Trump's Twitter interaction rate since January 2016.
Not counting posts he retweets, he is at 343 tweets through May 25 — closing in on his one-month record of 348 in August.
By the numbers:
Trump's top tweet of his presidency: The pro wrestling video of him taking down a man with a CNN logo for a head. (930,531 interactions)
No. 2 and 3:Insults and threats to Kim Jong-un. (876,755, 685,193)
Despite all of the drama of conflict, there's an appetite for harmony in Trump's tweets. In 11 months of his presidency, his biggest tweets had a uniting, positive message — like his responses to violent attacks and his post-Super Bowl messages.
The hyper-engaged fanbase of BTS, a Korean boy band, and a handful of other popular K-pop groups are bringing American publishers off-the-charts Twitter numbers.
Data: NewsWhip; Note: Twitter influencer shares include shares of articles by influential Twitter accounts and retweets of those posts; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
The big picture: BTS has a more engaged following than any other entity on Twitter — and it isn't even close. The group's main account generated 400 million interactions from its tweets in the last 3 months, compared to just 105 million from President Trump, according to data from CrowdTangle.
Details: A tweet about the group will often result in thousands of retweets and likes. The list below — linking out to the tweets — shows some of the publishers for which posts about BTS have resulted in their most-engaged tweet in the last 3 months.
Why it matters: While much of the engagement on tweets about BTS are coming from abroad, the band is pioneering a bigger footprint for K-pop in the United States.
BTS has appeared on Ellen Degeneres and Jimmy Fallon's shows, as well as Saturday Night Live, and will visit Stephen Colbert this week.
The band is wrapping up the U.S. leg of its world tour.
Earlier this year, Mattel announced a deal to make a BTS line of toys.
