• by Gavin O'Malley , September 9, 2014

With its smart layout and limitless scrolling, Time.com has received heaps of praise since its relaunch earlier this year. Better yet, the publisher’s success appears to be extending throughout the social Web.

In terms of social media engagement, Time.com bested all but seven media publishers in August, according to new findings from social-analytics start-up Shareablee.

During the month, Time magazine’s flagship site racked up nearly 4.6 million social “actions” -- from follows and likes to comments and retweets -- the majority of which occurred on Facebook.  
 
National Geographic dominated the field for the third consecutive month, drawing 49.4 million engaged actions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As with previous months, NatGeo’s secret social weapon was Instagram, where the publisher saw about 87% of its social actions. Regarding its success, Tania Yuki, founder and CEO of Shareablee.com, recently said it was inseparable from the rise of Instagram as a marketing platform.

“National Geographic's success clearly underscores the potential of the visual Web, which the other top publishers in June have yet to fully explore,” Yuki told Social Media & Marketing Daily, last month.

Overall in August, Shareablee said domestic media properties earned 359 million social actions on Facebook, 24 million actions on Twitter, and 151 million actions on Instagram.

The Huffington Post engaged the largest audience on Facebook (10.3 million), followed closely by People.com (8.1 million) and BuzzFeed (6.8 million).

Ranked by volume of social media actions on Facebook, entertainment ranked as the top performing publisher category, last month, with 62 million actions. People.com led the way (8.8 million); followed by BuzzFeed (7.6 million); and Billboard (6.5 million.)

Sports was the fastest growing category measured by volume of social-media actions, which was led by Sports Illustrated’s growth of 57%.

The fastest-growing properties in the entertainment category included Billboard (which grew 192%); Star Magazine (which grew 168%); and The Hollywood Reporter, which grew 140%).

Among general news publishers, the fastest-growing titles included Harper’s Magazine (which grew 154%); The New Yorker (which grew 92%); and The Wall Street Journal (which grew 59%).