Today is our final round up of our top stories of 2012 with the Marketing Land stories most shared on Facebook.

Unlike the top stories shared on Google+ – where our audience clearly preferred Google-related stories – Facebook sharers preferred different kinds of marketing articles, including content marketing, Facebook marketing, using Twitter and other social media posts. Anecdotally, Facebook posts do well on Facebook, and Google-related posts are popular on Google+. Facebook popularity also depend on other factors such as whether the social post incorporated an image or video, when it was posted, and how long the post is. As we all know, understanding social sharing is a moving target – Facebook’s Timeline for brands launched in February 2012, promoted posts were introduced in May, all while many marketers have been trying to decipher the recent decrease on Facebook reach. It will be interesting to see how Facebook evolves in 2013.

Here are the 20 most-shared stories of 2012:

1. Once Deemed Evil, Google Now Embraces “Paid Inclusion” (80 )

2. Microsoft To Make Same Privacy Change Google Was Attacked For; No One Seems To Care (78)

3. Dark Google: One Year Since Search Terms Went “Not Provided” (73)

4. How Google Went From Search Engine To Content Destination (71)

5. Brands Rejoice! Page Notifications Will Help Increase Facebook Reach (70)

6. Step-By-Step: How To Download All Your Tweets With The New Twitter Archive Service (63)

7. Facebook’s “Suggested Post” Ad Helps Push Page Content, No Connection Required (62)

8. Microsoft Slams Google Privacy Changes With “Putting People First” Ad Campaign (61 )

9. The Return Of The Google Dance (60)

10. Content Marketing For People Who Hate Writing (52)

11. Google’s New Terms Of Service & Privacy Policy: Anything You Do May Be Used To Target You? (52)

12. Studies: As Mobile Email Usage Soars, Marketers Budget More For Email, Mobile And Social (48)

13. ‘PageLever Now’ Launches Real-time Facebook Post Analytics & Management Tool (46)

14. Santa Tracking Explained: Why NORAD & Google Show Different Locations & Gifts Delivered (45)

15. Study: iPad Controls 98 Percent Of Tablet Web Traffic (44)

16. How Facebook Tagging Helped Make Randi Zuckerberg’s “Private” Photo Go Public (41)

17. TIME Names Google Glass A ‘Best Invention Of 2012′ (39)

18. Pinterest Grows Up & Goes Corporate With New Tools (And TOS) For Businesses (38)

19. 2012 Social Media Report: Users Spending 58% More Time On Social Media, Social App Usage More Than Doubles (38)

20. 30 Essential Business Apps For Your Smartphone (36)

Thanks to Social Crawlytics to help us generate this data. The tool only tracks Facebook shares, so this list does not incorporate stories with the most Facebook likes or comments posted.

Related Topics: About Marketing Land | Channel: Other | Most Popular Stories | Top News

About The Author: Monica Wright Monica Wright has over 10 years of media and content marketing experience, with a strong focus on driving online audiences for media companies. She serves as the the Community Editor for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land, and regularly consults and speaks on SEO, social media, and local search techniques. You can follow her on Twitter @MonicaWright. See more articles by Monica Wright

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