Conservatives unlock a surprising reason why people share online

The Conservative Party has discovered a way to get both supporters and detractors to share its message with their social media communities.

Entertainment, inspiration and education are some of the positive reasons that people share content online.

There are many more negative reasons. Status and virtue signalling feature highly.

But the primary driver of social media sharing is an emotional reaction such as anger, fear or hate.

This behavioural trigger has been applied to good effect during the election campaign by the Conservative Party.

A series of poorly designed social media posts calling to get Brexit done were shared by both Leave and Remain supporters. The posts were poorly designed using fonts such as Comic Sans. 

Leavers shared the post because they supported the message. Remainers shared them and criticised the poor design.

The outcome is that the message gained extensive organic reach across social media by both Conservative Party detractors and supporters.

The tactic was applied again last week.

The Conservative Party responded to the Labour Party proposal for free broadband with a retro GIF based on Windows 95 design. It looks lousy but it’s been widely passed on.

It’s unlikely anyone will be persuaded by either argument but that’s not the point. It’s provides broad exposure for the Conservative Party and distracts opponents from their own campaigns.