What makes something go viral? | Dao Nguyen
People & Blogs
Introduction
Last year, some BuzzFeed employees devised a prank to surprise their boss Frank on his birthday by placing a family of baby goats in his office. When BuzzFeed had signed on for a Facebook Live experiment, the team decided to livestream the entire event to capture Frank’s reaction. Initially, they anticipated the experience would last about 10 minutes and draw a few hundred views from amused employees. However, the actual execution faced numerous delays: Frank wanted a drink, was called into a meeting, and even took a bathroom break. By the time he walked in, over 90,000 viewers were eagerly watching the livestream.
Afterward, the BuzzFeed team conducted discussions to analyze the video’s unexpected success. It wasn’t the biggest live event they had executed; that honor belonged to a video featuring a fountain of cheese. Yet the goat prank performed significantly better than expected. In pondering why this was, they hypothesized that viewers derived excitement from participating in the shared anticipation of the moment. They were momentarily part of a community, which brought them joy.
To test this theory, the team decided to replicate a similar scenario. The following week, they produced another viral live video featuring two people in hazmat suits wrapping rubber bands around a watermelon until it exploded. This video attracted 800,000 viewers, marking it as the largest Facebook Live event to date. This led to a key realization: rather than asking how to make something viral, it was more insightful to ask what the audience was thinking and feeling while engaging with the content.
Many media companies focusing solely on metadata, cataloging content by subjects or formats—such as “goats,” “office pranks,” or “food.” While such details can be interesting, they don't delve into what truly matters. Instead of just tagging what articles or videos are about, BuzzFeed redirected their approach to consider how the content could help users in fulfilling a specific need in their lives. This led to a project called cultural cartography, where content would be formally categorized by the “job” it performed for readers or viewers.
Cultural cartography involved mapping out different jobs that media can do for people. The team identified categories such as humor (making viewers laugh), identity (allowing people to express themselves), and connection (helping forge bonds between individuals). For example, a popular list titled "32 memes you should send your sister immediately" garnered three million views because it accurately executed several “jobs”—connecting with family while also providing laughter.
The viral nature of content can emerge from unexpected places. An example was a quiz titled “Pick an outfit and we’ll guess your age and height,” which attracted ten million views. Surprisingly, it became particularly popular among women aged 55 and older who enjoyed seeing how far off BuzzFeed's guesses could be—providing them an opportunity for a humorous humblebrag.
The same principles apply to food content. Instead of brainstorming recipes around the ingredients, BuzzFeed flipped the concept. They asked how a recipe could foster bonding. This led to the creation of a video for "the fuzziest brownies ever," aiming to engage viewers in challenges and togetherness. The result? A massively successful video with 70 million views, encouraging friends to bond over baking.
The concept of cultural cartography has resonated not only with content creators but also with advertisers. While media companies often view data as an indicator of popularity—tracking fans, followers, and views—this perspective ignores the real value of understanding how content impacts lives. By recognizing and capturing what matters to viewers, the potential arises for creating better-targeted and meaningful content.
In conclusion, through a shift in perspective—from viewing media as merely a collection of data points to comprehending its importance in the audience’s life—content creators can foster connections and truly understand their impact.
Keywords
- Viral content
- Shared anticipation
- Community
- Cultural cartography
- Humor
- Identity
- Connection
- Audience engagement
- Metadata
- Food content
FAQ
1. What factors contribute to making content go viral?
Content tends to go viral when it successfully engages the audience's emotions and creates a sense of shared anticipation or community.
2. How did BuzzFeed test their hypothesis about audience engagement?
BuzzFeed created a subsequent live event featuring a watermelon explosion, attracting significant viewership to see if shared anticipation would once again drive success.
3. What is cultural cartography?
Cultural cartography is an approach that categorizes content based on the specific “jobs” it performs for the audience, such as providing humor, enabling identity expression, or fostering connections with others.
4. Can food content also go viral?
Yes, food content can go viral when it’s designed to create social interactions or connections, rather than solely focusing on the ingredients.
5. How can media companies better understand their audience?
By focusing on the deeper impact their content has on audiences’ lives and what jobs it helps fulfill, rather than just tracking popularity metrics.
