<s>
Dark	B-Protocol
social	I-Protocol
media	I-Protocol
,	O
dark	O
social	O
,	O
or	O
dark	O
traffic	O
,	O
are	O
social	O
shares	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
contain	O
any	O
digital	O
referral	O
information	O
about	O
the	O
source	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrary	O
to	O
the	O
sharing	O
on	O
social	O
networking	O
service	O
like	O
Facebook	B-Application
,	O
which	O
is	O
done	O
publicly	O
,	O
Dark	O
social	O
is	O
done	O
privately	O
through	O
IRC	O
channels	O
,	O
emails	O
,	O
SMS	O
or	O
simply	O
copy-and-paste	O
and	O
other	O
ways	O
of	O
private	O
sharing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Not	O
to	O
confuse	O
with	O
deep	O
web	O
,	O
dark	B-Protocol
social	I-Protocol
media	I-Protocol
is	O
not	O
about	O
the	O
content	O
but	O
the	O
traffic	O
of	O
online	O
sharing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
And	O
in	O
2014	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
believed	O
that	O
Dark	O
Social	O
consisted	O
of	O
69%	O
of	O
sharing	O
activities	O
globally	O
,	O
whereas	O
Facebook	B-Application
only	O
holds	O
23%	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
exact	O
nature	O
of	O
dark	B-Protocol
social	I-Protocol
media	I-Protocol
is	O
still	O
unknown	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
word	O
"	O
dark	O
"	O
in	O
the	O
name	O
itself	O
suggests	O
that	O
unknown	O
or	O
can't-see	O
is	O
in	O
the	O
heart	O
of	O
the	O
concept	O
like	O
dark	O
energy	O
in	O
astronomy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
grew	O
up	O
in	O
a	O
time	O
when	O
the	O
web	O
was	O
just	O
being	O
built	O
and	O
knew	O
there	O
were	O
other	O
ways	O
to	O
share	O
information	O
,	O
not	O
just	O
through	O
big	O
name	O
sites	O
like	O
Facebook	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
help	O
of	O
web	O
analytics	O
firm	O
,	O
Chartbeat	B-Protocol
,	O
he	O
was	O
able	O
to	O
quantify	O
this	O
traffic	O
into	O
something	O
much	O
more	O
meaningful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dark	B-Protocol
social	I-Protocol
media	I-Protocol
can	O
be	O
perceived	O
differently	O
when	O
looking	O
at	O
desktop	O
computers	O
vs	O
mobile	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Madrigal	O
mentioned	O
that	O
since	O
October	O
2015	O
,	O
Facebook	B-Application
had	O
changed	O
their	O
algorithm	O
for	O
the	O
mobile	O
app	O
,	O
which	O
resulted	O
in	O
the	O
media	O
publisher	O
receiving	O
over	O
100%	O
more	O
traffic	O
than	O
before	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
meantime	O
,	O
he	O
has	O
also	O
noticed	O
the	O
Atlantic	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
he	O
used	O
to	O
work	O
for	O
,	O
received	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
dark	O
social	O
traffic	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
not	O
the	B-Application
Facebook	I-Application
mobile	O
traffic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alexis	O
Madrigal	O
later	O
performed	O
an	O
experiment	O
to	O
confirm	O
his	O
theory	O
that	O
the	O
dark	O
social	O
traffic	O
boost	O
was	O
indeed	O
from	O
Facebook	B-Application
mobile	O
app	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
found	O
that	O
the	O
referrer	O
links	O
from	O
Facebook	B-Application
’s	O
mobile	O
app	O
do	O
n’t	O
always	O
pass	O
to	O
the	O
destination	O
website	O
,	O
which	O
creates	O
Dark	O
Social	O
traffic	O
for	O
mobile	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
updated	O
Charbeat	O
report	O
also	O
confirmed	O
that	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Dark	O
Social	O
traffic	O
was	O
generated	O
by	O
Facebook	B-Application
mobile	O
app	O
and	O
its	O
own	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
Facebook	B-Application
mobile	O
app	O
,	O
dark	O
social	O
traffic	O
can	O
also	O
come	O
from	O
Reddit	B-Application
mobile	O
app	O
,	O
Gmail	B-Application
and	O
Instant	B-Application
messaging	I-Application
apps	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dark	O
Social	O
traffic	O
consists	O
mostly	O
of	O
one-to-one	O
messaging	O
through	O
non-dark	O
channels	O
such	O
as	O
Facebook	B-Application
Messenger	O
and	O
Snapchat	O
rather	O
than	O
more	O
commonly	O
used	O
one-to-many	O
methods	O
;	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
sharing	O
to	O
a	O
Twitter	O
feed	O
,	O
or	O
Facebook	B-Application
wall	O
,	O
which	O
traditional	O
analytics	O
tools	O
rely	O
upon	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
combat	O
this	O
lack	O
of	O
transparency	O
,	O
websites	O
can	O
include	O
more	O
attractive	O
ways	O
to	O
share	O
links	O
than	O
simply	O
copy-pasting	O
into	O
another	O
application	O
;	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
sites	O
can	O
implement	O
highly	O
visible	O
share	O
buttons	O
,	O
a	O
copy-paste	O
button	O
,	O
or	O
buttons	O
to	O
share	O
a	O
link	O
with	O
a	O
referral	O
tag	O
directly	O
to	O
a	O
dark	O
social	O
channel	O
like	O
WhatsApp	O
,	O
Facebook	B-Application
Messenger	O
,	O
or	O
email	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dark	O
social	O
data	O
cannot	O
be	O
found	O
by	O
web	O
analytics	O
software	O
to	O
see	O
where	O
traffic	O
originates	O
from	O
and	O
invisible	O
web	O
data	O
will	O
not	O
show	O
when	O
using	O
search	O
engines	O
like	O
Google	B-Application
Search	I-Application
or	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Bing	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Email	O
and	O
IM	O
are	O
the	O
common	O
sources	O
of	O
dark	O
social	O
sharing	O
but	O
Facebook	B-Application
may	O
actually	O
be	O
the	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
cause	O
of	O
the	O
increase	O
in	O
dark	O
social-through	O
their	O
chatting	O
and	O
messaging	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
sources	O
of	O
Dark	O
Social	O
are	O
Reddit	B-Application
,	O
StumbleUpon	O
,	O
Twitter	O
,	O
Tumblr	O
,	O
LinkedIn	O
and	O
Google+	O
,	O
WhatsApp	O
,	O
Viber	O
,	O
Kwik	O
,	O
Firechat	O
,	O
OM	O
and	O
Livetext	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Baby	B-Application
Boomers	I-Application
(	O
born	O
between	O
1946-1964	O
)	O
and	O
Gen	O
Xers	O
(	O
born	O
between	O
1965-1981	O
)	O
commonly	O
share	O
by	O
email	O
and	O
word	O
of	O
mouth	O
.	O
</s>
