I disagree with the premise that the Facebook Algorithm update in December caused the drop. Here’s why: 1. As far as Quantcast data goes, ViralNova held steady

I disagree with the premise that the Facebook Algorithm update in December caused the drop. Here’s why: 1. As far as Quantcast data goes, ViralNova held steady in December (https://www.quantcast.com/viralnova.com https://www.quantcast.com/viralnova.com) 2. Utrend.tv grew in December (https://www.quantcast.com/utrend.tv https://www.quantcast.com/utrend.tv) 3. Distractify.com grew from ~ 15m in Nov to 45m in December. (https://www.quantcast.com/distractify.com https://www.quantcast.com/distractify.com) In other words, Upworthy clones all grew or remained steady in December while Upworthy traffic declined. I’m not going to speculate on the months after December, but to suggest that Facebook cracked down on these “viral” sites seems to go against the small amount of data that we have available via Quantcast. It seems to me like Upworthy just had a subpar December, especially with the growth of new entrants.