Mashable’s Lauren Indvik reports that social shareability now trumps SEO as a priority for The Atlantic — and, it’s fair to extend, many other media brands of its ilk.

Bob Cohn, who was recently promoted to editor of The Atlantic Digital, rejoices the change. “Before, it seemed Demand Media was going to own the Internet by assigning stories based on search returns. It was a cynical approach to journalism,” Cohn recalled. “We’re no longer writing to get the attention of Google algorithms. We’re writing to get you to share it, to digg it.”

(Somebody tell Bob about Reddit.)