We have fallen out of love with Joey 💔

It seemed (to me at least) that the Friends reunion was all anyone could talk about this month.

I couldn’t help digging into content engagement data, in the 24 hours following the big release on HBO.

I was particularly eager to find out who the “Friend” favorite was, so I analyzed the average shares and Facebook love reactions of content written about both the actor and their on-screen counterpart.

I was surprised and a little bit sorry to find that Joey / Matt LeBlanc received the least love and engagement.

Phoebe / Lisa Kudrow on the other hand was a firm favorite. During the reunion, Kudrow dueted with Lady Gaga – could this have been the spark that ignited widespread love and attention for stories about her on social media?

Last month we looked at the phenomenal growth in average newsletter engagement (ie. shares, likes, comments, pins, upvotes etc.) since 2017.

Analyzing the same dataset of 1.5bn articles, we discovered that all-but-one other content type (“Why” posts) have experienced declining engagement since then.

One possible reason for diminishing shares is the steep incline in content creation. As we explored in our March Monthly Buzz, content published has increased by 64% since 2016. We only have so much time in the day to like and share!

That being said, as more newsletters pop up and get indexed by search engines, more of us are choosing to share them with our network.

Excluding newsletters, average shares for the remaining content types have declined by 30% on average.

When you include this medium however, the average engagement of “All content” is steered on an upward trajectory from 2020 onwards.

We’re living through the newsletter boom💥 For more newsletter research and inspiration, check out our latest blog: 8 Newsletter Ideas, Tips, And Topics To Engage Your Readers