What makes a video go viral

By Brant Skogrand, APR, MBC  

Screen grab from YouTube

While there doesn't seem to be a formula to guarantee that a video will go viral, researchers have found some commonalities among hits across the Internet.

In a recent article by Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times, she highlighted the following findings from researchers:

• Emotion is key. The video can cause either a happy or sad response, but is more likely to be passed along the more intense the emotion it causes.
• Uplifting content is shared more frequently. On the list of stories that are e-mailed most among New York Times readers, depressing content is not shared as often.
• Ego comes into play. Just like a library with unread books just to look well-read, many people share links and videos just to get more likes, clicks or to evoke laughter or other reactions.

 It takes more than cats and cute babies to become a viral sensation online.

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