I review data... I visualise data... it's my job.
To that end, I keep an eye on who is publishing what and how. So, when I see a weird trend, I stop and ask to see if it's as weird as I think it is.
The Wall Street Journal recently published an online article from Jeanne Whalen, "Why the U.S. Pays More Than Other Countries for Drugs", and it kinda went ballistic. If you look at the page, you see 5,523 shares from Facebook.
OMG!
Not really.
This is a huge topic, right now. Of course an article on this will get a lot of shares.
What struck me as odd, then?
I want to know who shared this article.
Part of what my agency does is track social profiles for a lot of different categories. It's kind of our thing. It's proprietary, and it's awesome. It's called MDigital Life. We started with physicians, and have expanded into other areas, such as media outlets and journalists.
Which is why I can tell you with authority that there were at least 25 of our identified journalist influencers who shared this article.
"Yawn..."
But wait, there's more.
Of those 25, 17 of them were from WSJ.
17 of 25.
Who organises that well? Apparently, WSJ.
At first, I'm thinking, "Okay, it's mostly their health desk."
Nope.
To name a few, I've got a page one editor, an EMEA markets editor, a relationship columnist, and a housing and mortgage market reporter. I also have the Asia, Canada, and Infographics desks sharing the article.
Colour me impressed if WSJ got their teams together to put in a concerted effort for blowing this article up.
If not, colour me wicked surprised that such a huge, unlikely coincidence occured and gave them an unexpected windfall.
