Shares / Reposts

Output

total number of shares / reposts of the selected social media content during the reporting period

The indicator measures how often users redistributed selected social media content through actions recorded by the platform as shares or reposts. Sharing or reposting can extend the content beyond its original audience and usually requires a more active response than simply giving a reaction. However, it does not by itself show that users agreed with, understood or supported the content, or that the shared content reached additional users. Use this indicator mainly to monitor redistribution of content. Interpret it together with reach or impressions and, where relevant, stronger measures linked to the communication objective, such as comments, clicks or intended outcomes.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

 

1) Define the measurement scope before collecting the data. Specify the social media platform, account, content and reporting period. If relevant, also specify whether paid, organic or both types of content are included. Use the same scope when comparing results over time.

2) Check the platform's current definition of shares or reposts and use its own analytics where available. Platforms may count different actions separately. For example, a platform may distinguish a public repost from a quote repost or from sending content privately. Decide which platform-reported action(s) the indicator will include and record this definition when it matters for comparison.

 

3) Record the number of shares / reposts reported by the platform for each item of content included in the measurement scope. Where possible, export or record the figures at a consistent point after publication.

 

4) To determine the indicator's value, sum the shares / reposts of the content included in the defined scope. Do not interpret this total as the number of people who shared the content: the same user may share several posts and therefore contribute several actions to the total.

If data from several platforms are reported together, also report each platform separately. Platform definitions and sharing functions differ, so the combined total should be interpreted as the number of recorded sharing / reposting actions across the selected platforms, not as a directly comparable measure of user behaviour.

 

This data can be disaggregated by social media channel, and, if relevant and feasible, also by type of sharing action, paid versus organic content, content type or other factors relevant to the communication objective.

1) Interpret share / repost counts in relation to audience exposure and the amount of content published. For example, 50 shares from content reaching 3,000 users is different from 50 shares from content reaching 50,000 users. Where available, report reach or impressions alongside shares / reposts and state the number of posts included. Do not compare raw totals across platforms or reporting periods without considering these differences.

2) Do not assume that a share or repost represents endorsement. People may share content because they support it, but also to criticise, question, discuss or add their own interpretation. If the meaning of sharing matters to the communication objective, review accompanying comments or quote posts and other qualitative information.

3) A share / repost count does not show how many additional people saw the content because of sharing. Use reach or impressions to understand the content's overall distribution, but do not assume that additional exposure was caused by shares / reposts unless the platform provides a metric that specifically identifies this. Do not estimate additional reach from the number of shares or from reposters' follower counts.

4) Platform definitions, interfaces and available metrics can change. For repeated monitoring, use the same platform metric and measurement procedure where possible and note any important change in definition or data availability.

Also consider using the following indicators:

• Reach (shows how widely the content was distributed and provides essential context for share / repost counts)

• Engagement Rate (assesses interaction relative to audience exposure rather than relying only on raw counts)

• Comments (can provide more information about how users interpret or discuss the shared content)

• Reactions (provides a complementary measure of lower-effort audience response)