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Why Do Things Go Viral?

hospitalera | Dec 28, 2010 |

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Some people say or write intelligent things and their words never reach a bigger audience, whilst others say something equally intelligent and their words spread like a wildfire. Why does this happen? Why is some content successful and some only of interest for a few? What makes something a success and what a failure? And, btw, this is not only true for quotes and sayings, it also applies to things like pictures, videos and blog posts. Knowing why some things go viral and others not, can help greatly when you write online articles, like here on Infobarrel, have an own website or blog or if you are an avid YouTube user.

Take for example the famous 'When Life Gives You Lemons ... ' quotes with all its variations. It is a good example for content going viral because if fulfills three important needs:

Universal

Everybody can relate to this quote, because everybody has experienced unpleasantness in his or her life and is looking for a way out of the situation.

Adaptable

You can make it your own and personalize it. The original quote by Dale Carnegie was 'When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.', but there are now literally thousands of variations of it in circulation, from the simple, modern version 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade' (made famous by Joan Collins to short stories like the following:

'If life gives you lemons, take the seeds and plant a lemon tree. When this lemon tree gives you more lemons, do the same again until you have a lemon tree farm. Sell the lemons the farm produces and get rich. You see, sometimes life gives you lemons in order to help you.'

Easy and Humorous

The sad thing is, that few people like to exercise their brains too much, especially when surfing the internet. People want to be entertained and have a quick laugh, but not to try to figure out a Mensa style brain puzzle.

For web content to go viral, it has to appeal to a wide audience, be adaptable and easy to personalize and give people a laugh or a smile. That are the same reasons that make sites like Icanhacheezburger such a big success.