There are significant benefits for advertisers attached to news stories shared via social media, a new study suggests.

CNN's inaugural global research study into the power of news and recommendation (POWNAR) suggests that people who receive news content from a friend via social media are 19 per cent more likely to recommend brands advertised around the story to others and 27 per cent more likely to favour that brand themselves.

The study, conducted between June and August this year, included biometric and eye-tracking exercises to measure emotional engagement with shared content and embedded advertising, tagging of CNN International content to track sharing and a global online 'ad-effectiveness' survey of 2,300 people.

According to the findings, 27 per cent per cent of frequent sharers (those who share six or more stories per week) are responsible for 87 per cent of shared articles, with the average global user sharing 13 stories per week and receiving 26.

In terms of the platforms used to share news, 43 per cent of sharing comes via social media networks and tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, followed by 30 per cent by email, 15 per cent by text message and 12 per cent by instant messaging.

The most shared news sections were business, world and technology, while visual spectacle, science and technology, human interest were the most popular themes.

"The commerciality of the social media space is fast becoming apparent and this study means that for the first time, we are able to substantiate the value of shared news from an advertising perspective," says Didier Mormesse, senior vice president, ad sales research, Development and Audience Insight at CNN International.

"Knowing the typology of shared content is significant as the information could be used by agencies as a guideline to mould creative and therefore make their advertising more effective to consumers", he adds.

Related articles from Journalism.co.uk

New Scientist peeks into people’s buying brains with 'neuromarketing'

Reinventing the Newsroom: Social media and ‘refrigerator journalism’

Sharing and signposting: Younger Thinking for news organisations

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).