There are huge audiences out there waiting to read and share your content, but even if you think your post or white paper is the best in the world, you need to consider one vital factor: emotions. Courtney Seiter over at Buffer has an interesting breakdown of the emotions behind our choices about who to follow and what to share on the web.

“Other than making us…well, happy…joy can also be a driver of action. [Psychoanalyst Donald] Winnicott’s discovery of a baby’s ‘social smile’ also tells us that joy increases when it is shared. No wonder then, that happiness is the main driver for social media sharing,” she writes.

Referring to a study by Fractl, a content strategy firm, Seiter cites the top emotions behind viral content:

• amusement
• interest
• surprise
• happiness
• delight
• pleasure
• joy

There’s plenty more to be found in Seiter’s post, like the effectiveness of emotional appeals and the emotional “energy exchange,” so we won’t spoil it all here.

Given her piece, maybe there’s something to BuzzFeed’s famous “no haters” policy after all.

Why Net Neutrality Matters for Associations

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the web, and its father, Tim Berners-Lee, used the occasion to call for net neutrality. But the ideal of a neutral net is in a precarious spot after a federal appeals court recently struck down the Federal Communications Commission rules promoting it.

With the web’s birthday still fresh in mind, there’s no better time to revisit this breakdown from Ray van Hilst at SocialFish about the implications of net neutrality’s possible demise for associations.

Other Good Reads Today

Think millennials spend a lot of time consuming media? Your highest estimates may be blown out of the water by the findings of a new study by Crowdtap, a social influence platform, and Ipsos MediaCT, a research firm. According to the results, they’re spending 18 compounded hours a day gobbling up content.

Event season has arrived, and if you’re scrambling for tips on hosting a fundraising event that’s looming on the calendar, the Network for Good has you covered

Put down your LinkedIn how-to guides for a moment and check out this interview with Sam Ford, Peppercomm’s director of audience engagement, over at Inc.com.