Sharing on the world-wide web generates 10% plus of all internet traffic (almost 50% of the volume of search), wherein Facebook stands as the main sharing platform across the web space. According to a research study put together by the California-based company ShareThis, in collaboration with Starcom MediaVest Group and Rubinson Partners, Facebook accounts for 38% of all sharing referral traffic. Email and Twitter follow next with 17% each.

The study focusses on ShareThis’ database of sharing activity for the month of March 2011. It attempts to make a detailed analysis of more than 7 billion sharing signals across all major sharing channels, specifically looking at the sharing patterns of more than 300 million monthly users across the Top 1,000 publisher websites of ShareThis.

The research study throws light on how sharing stacks up compared to web search when it comes to generating traffic for websites and brands, how people share different types of content across different types of social channels, and how sharing gives all users the ability to be influential. Specifically, the study findings include a number of takeaways important to marketers and advertisers as they explore ways to better serve, reach and engage their audiences.

Highlights of the study:

• Sharing is bigger than Fans, Friends and Followers: Sharing also accounts for 31% of referral traffic.

• Sharing is about scale, not virality: Shared links are, on an average, across all sharing channels, clicked on 4.9 times each. So, content shared by large groups of people reach a wider audience, than content passed along from others.

• Everyone who shares is an influencer if the subject is important to him or her: Instead of one person being universally influential on a wide range of topics, the study found that many people are influential on only one or two topics.

• Sharing is about moments of opportunity and relevance: The study proves that sharing is a viable marketing solution for reaching audiences when they are most receptive to a particular category of advertising, such as consumer packaged goods, business and financial services, or consumer electronics.

Jeff Flemings, senior vice-president, human experience centers, SMG, says, “Sharing is a critical aspect of creating meaningful human experiences today. Getting large groups of people to share content, reactions and updates with others in their social network at scale is a marketing must. However, people only share what’s important to them, so it’s essential to have a deep understanding of what people are sharing and why.”