Is negativism more traffic-worthy?

Over the past handful of months I have put out about a dozen posts addressing local music in one fashion or another (interviews, overviews, previews, etc.) and they all have had positive undertones. None of those got any substantial traffic. Last week, I put out one post that highlighted what was taken by many to be negative commentary. It got about 4 times the average traffic. I have had some great conversations with all sorts of folks about this phenomenon, and I am writing about it for Monday, but I am curious about why you think this is?

A lot of the traffic came from people who expressed that the tone wasn’t particularly “helpful” for the local music scene, but in doing so, a good deal of attention was brought to said post. And if the opposite tone is what is helpful, how come those kinds of posts don’t often find traction? This is not the sort of thing that will influence what I post and when, but I can see how this would bait many folks who publish on the web to err on the side of authoring particular kinds of stories as a means of pulling traffic (which is what pays the bills for many).

Without killing each other in the comments, why do you think this is? I am particularly interested in hearing from local musicians, but all commentary is welcome. I will be away tonight, so I am unlikely to weigh in right now, but all feedback is appreciated.

Alex Steed

About Alex Steed

Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was an insufferable teenager. He has run for the Statehouse and produced a successful web series. He now runs a content firm called Knack Factory with two guys who are a lot more talented than himself.