There are at least two distinct patterns producing this result. One is the obvious pattern of sharing new and ephemeral content. John Kerry's campaign site was

There are at least two distinct patterns producing this result. One is the obvious pattern of sharing new and ephemeral content. John Kerry's campaign site was popular for a time, but disappeared with waning public interest. The second, more interesting pattern is of content which is lost because it is shared. Think of works like Flappy Bird - taken down to spare its creator excess attention - or copyright-violating works that face legal action when they grow too notable. Seeqpod remains one of the best internet music services I've ever found. I used it for two years, after which it became notable and won enough R&D awards that the record industry sued it into bankruptcy, a victim of its own success. The simple result here, about disappearing content, is worthwhile. But I would be fascinated to see an investigation of how many shares are received by content which is removed instead of abandoned, to look at what constitutes critical mass for legal and financial headaches.