Controlling for factors such as article placement within the paper and emotionality (positive and negative) among many others, the researchers found awe inspiring articles are most emailed, as are practically useful, emotion laden and positive articles. Surprisingly, longer articles, articles written by famous authors and those written by women are also more likely to go viral. This data contrasts with conventional thinking that brevity is king in holding readers' attention. Also, there seems to be a never-ending supply of negative headlines whenever you read the news, yet the research shows most stories shared are the positive ones.
The study surmises we share content for a variety of reasons, sometimes self-enhancement (see how smart I am, I sent you this way before you even knew about it) or to generate reciprocity, but also to deepen connections with others.
I decided to test the findings employing my own unscientific data comparison by looking at YouTube's top five viral videos of 2009. The Susan Boyle one I can see, but the others, not so much (David After Dentist, JK Wedding Entrance, New Moon Movie Trailer and Evian Roller Babies). The study did show surprising content is more viral, so perhaps the roller skating babies, and the unique wedding entrance explains those videos popularity. In any event, according to the research, awe is key to going viral.
The key to going viral originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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