So you’ve shot a cool video? It looks good. So let’s post it online and wait for it to go viral right? Uhm.. Not so fast.
There’s a science to virality. That’s right. Viral content is not a ‘random event’ that takes place in the digital arena. Even though it may appear as though a piece of content ‘suddenly’ went viral, it is often not the case.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts virality. Let’s get the definition first.
Virality : The tendency of an image, video, or piece of information to be circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another; the quality or fact of being viral….
Buzzfeed is at the top of the viral content food chain and one of its best-kept secret is that the average Buzzfeed article is written at a fourth-grade reading level. That’s the average reading level of a 9-year-old! Shocking?
It shouldn’t come as a shock. Recent studies prove that the digital culture has played a role in diminishing the human attention span to less than 8 seconds. That’s less than that of a goldfish. Now let’s take a few seconds to let that fishy fact sink in. 1, 2,3 ,4, 5, 6, 7, DONE.
Does your content pass the virality questionaire?
According to Social Media Today, these are the following questions to consider when talking virality:
> Did you sufficiently cover the topic?
> Does the content inspire a high-energy emotion like awe, anger, or anxiety?
> Did your tone convey emotion?
> Is it practically useful?
> Is it interesting? Is it surprising?
> Does the author have fame/credibility?
> Is it actually funny?
[highlight]Watch! [/highlight]The first ever viral video! Does it answer any of the questions above?
- [blockquote width=”]Related article: Memes that went viral before internet existed[/blockquote]
Virality decoded – Why videos go viral
Sometimes a video shot in the year 2000, can go viral many days, months,even years later. Watch this interesting video to understand the science behind this theory. You will be surprised to learn that sometimes virality happens when the ‘unexpected’ meets ‘engagement’.
Do you agree with some of the theories mentioned here?
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