There’s a better measurement of how your site is catching on with the public than simple “Likes”. These likes do tell a story, but because it’s so easy to click the Like button, the story doesn’t have a compelling plot.

More interesting is how many people make the effort to actively share your content with their contacts. If they take the time to write a tweet or a post about your content, then they have a more intense affinity to your site than someone who just clicks a button.

That idea has just given rise to a new calculation to measure how contagious a website is, the “Contagious Index”.

It’s the invention of DigitasLBi, a global marketing technology agency, and Jonah Berger, the author of the best selling book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Using data from Twitter and Facebook, two scores are calculated for each company being studied, a score for their contagion on Facebook and a separate score for their contagion on Twitter.

Currently, only the largest companies are being measured, a few hundred in all. You can see the contagion rating system, and check up on your favorite big company, here: Contagious Index.

See a longer introduction to the Contagious Index by Digitas Dose here: DigitasLBi & NYT/WSJ Best-Selling Author Jonah Berger Unveil New Metric To Measure Brand Social Content: “Contagious Index”.

Sharing is caring