Why Do We Keep Clicking?
It’s easy to get swept up in the churn of viral content. You’re scrolling through your social feed when suddenly a video or article pops out that seems to have entranced everyone you know. Before you can even process it — or even finish watching or reading it — your fingers tap to share, propelling the content farther into the zeitgeist. You’ve become part of the self-perpetuating cycle that makes things go viral on autopilot, without thinking critically about what you’re spreading or why.
The defaults of liking, commenting and sharing kick in, fueled by the momentum of virality and the fear of missing out. It’s only later you may pause to consider the content’s actual merit or meaning. By then, the knee-jerk reactions have already fed the algorithms, priming the content for exponential growth. The impulse to share can overwhelm the instinct to evaluate.
It’s the systemised generation and spread of noise that keeps adding to the internet’s decay, with the same low-quality, high-sugar bullshit piling up and piling up on platform after platform, saying nothing, adding trim, forgotten in moments, but still taking up space.
But have you stopped to wonder — what makes certain pieces of content go viral? What is it about these videos, memes, or articles that quickly spread like wildfire, captivating millions of people? Why, in fact, do we keep on clicking, tapping, swiping and sharing?
The Psychology Behind Viral Content
Emotional resonance is the most potent ingredient for making content go viral. When something strikes our emotional core, we instinctively want to share the experience with others.
Positive emotions like joy, inspiration, and warmth make content spreadable. A video of a baby laughing uncontrollably or a story about a community coming together triggers our feel-good impulse to pass it along. We want to brighten someone else’s day or send them on the same emotional rollercoaster we experienced.
But negative emotions can be just as viral, if not more so. Anger, shock, and outrage are potent motivators for sharing content. Videos or articles that stir controversy and grievances often spread rapidly as we react in disbelief or try to validate our own anger. The tribalistic nature of social media means polarizing content thrives.
Emotions like worry, fear, and anxiety grip our attention. Urban legends, stories or shocking warnings are hard to ignore and compulsively shareable. We feel driven to alert others even if we can’t look away.
Relatability and shareability
When we share content online, we mindlessly pass along information — but there’s more going on beneath the surface. On a deeper level, sharing stems from our human need for connection. By posting an amusing video or thoughtful article, we subconsciously hope to spark conversation, impress our followers, and bond over shared interests.
Sharing builds our social currency. We’ve been trained to showcase our personalities through curating content that presents us in a positive light. A funny meme highlights our sense of humour. A provocative think piece underscores our critical thinking. We’re culturally plugged in, even staying on top of the latest viral phenomenon. The content we choose to share becomes an extension of our identities.
Equally important, sharing content helps satisfy our innate craving for community and belonging. We facilitate a sense of kinship with like-minded individuals when we share something meaningful that resonates with our lived experiences, beliefs, or cultural backgrounds. Hitting the retweet button becomes an act of self-expression and a way to find our tribes.
In an increasingly angry, violently disconnected but yet overly connected world, sharing viral content provides catharsis. It allows us to declare what we stand for and discover those who stand alongside us. More than just blind internet chatter, our content speaks volumes about who we are as social beings. What we share says more about us than we would ever say ourselves.
Novelty and surprise
Nothing grabs our attention on social media like the unexpected. When content deviates from the norm, gets unconventional, or has that element of surprise, it’s primed for virality.
Our brains are inherently drawn to novelty. The unfamiliar captivates our curiosity, triggers dopamine hits, and disrupts the monotonous scroll. An out-of-left-field music video, a meme with an ironic twist, or a news article revealing shocking truths — anything that subverts expectations catches us off-guard in the best way.
These moments of surprise and unpredictability stick in our minds. We’re more likely to repeatedly watch something bizarre or shocking to process it. The “Did that really just happen?” feeling compels us to share the content with others. By passing along something novel, we create excitement and bring others into the delightful loop of discovering something new.
Viral content thrives on breaking patterns and stopping thumbs. The unconventional stands out in a media landscape saturated with the formulaic and predictable. Our brains crave the unexpected, so the strange, surprising, and disturbing spread rapidly, captivating our collective consciousness.
The problem is the contrivance of it all: the faux-absurdity that creeps in, the calculated attempts at warping and subverting expectation that begin to feel about as wild and outrageous as a Motley Crüe tea cosy at a suburban Pittsburgh Walmart. You’ll never guess what happened next. Etc.
The Role of Algorithms in Content Virality
Sure, crafting shareable content is an art — but virality is also a science. Before anything goes viral, algorithms need to bless it first.
Think of algorithms like bouncers at an exclusive nightclub. They decide what’s cool enough to surpass the digital velvet rope. The algorithms scan and evaluate every piece of content, determining if it’s engaging enough to be amplified. They reward content that rabbits down engagement tunnels with increased visibility.
Your video could be as emotional as a Pixar movie, but it needs the algorithmic boost to take off. Otherwise, it gets lost in the overflowing content queue, about as viral as your high school math teacher’s Instagram account.
Demystifying algorithms
Think of algorithms like the puppet masters pulling the strings of our social media experience. These secretive computer programs constantly curate our feeds, deciding what content we see and in what order. Their goals? Keep us glued to the screen, clicks and dopamine flowing.
It’s easy to imagine algorithms as cold, calculating robots, emotionlessly sifting through data to maximize time on site. But in a way, they’ve studied human behaviour better than most of us understand it ourselves. They intimately know which emotional triggers keep us endlessly scrolling and sharing.
That captivating video at the top of your feed? The algorithm predicted you’d be unable to look away. Is the outrageous headline-making you furious? Carefully designed for high engagement. The nostalgic throwback pic from a friend? Serves to boost connection.
We like to think we’re in control of our social media journeys. But the algorithms behind the scenes wield immense power over our digital lives. They stimulate, provoke, and comfort us — all in service of their engagement goals. Their calculations may be complex, but their objectives are simple: keep us coming back.
To algorithms, you’re just a lab rat to be manipulated, not a human with actual feelings and interests. They’ll relentlessly track everything you do online to figure out your vulnerabilities. What makes you angry? What gives you FOMO? This data gets fed into cold calculations designed to keep you trapped in an endless scroll.
An algorithm may push your content if it determines your work will maximize clicks. But don’t be fooled — it’s not trying to help you. You’re just producing the trash content algorithms that know people can’t resist sharing and arguing over.
It all comes down to what benefits the algorithms and their corporate overlords. Divisive headlines, quack conspiracy theories, rage bait — it’s engagement gold to them. Any shred of dignity or ethics gets tossed aside if there’s a viral hit to be made.
Think twice before optimizing for the algorithms’ dark appetites. Do you really want your content puppeteered by shady AIs, even if it means more eyeballs?
Protect your creativity and moral compass. The algorithms only care about you as data to exploit. And virality is not a goal worth pursuing.
