In his book Contagious, Jonah Berger talks about New York Times online articles that get shared. Articles that had elicited strong emotion, whether positive or negative, were shared the most. Jennifer Aaker talks about emotion and passion as being components of what makes messages go viral in her book The Dragonfly Effect.
In his research, Teixeira found that people can like an online video and yet not share it. He notes that surprise makes it more likely that people will share an online video, but not if the surprise goes too far and becomes shock.
Watching something that is so surprising that it is shocking will sustain attention, but people don’t like to share online videos that are shocking. As examples, Teixeira cites two Bud Light ads. In one ad, people in an office start swearing when they realize that every time someone in the office swears, money is added to a “swear jar.” When the jar is full of money, the office manager buys a case of Bud Light beer for everyone to share. That video is surprising, but not shocking, and people tend to share it with others.
In contrast, another Bud Light ad, using the same cast and the same office environment, shows the office staff donating used clothing for a charity. Every time someone donates an article of clothing, he or she gets a Bud Light beer. In the video there are scenes in the office of people taking off more and more clothing until they are essentially naked (with private parts blacked out in the video). This video is surprising, but it goes beyond surprise to shock. It sustained attention, but was not shared as much as the other video that was surprising without being shocking.
Extroversion, Egocentricity, And Sharing
Teixeira’s research shows that even when a video ad is surprising and not shocking, only a subset of people will share it. Who is the sharing subgroup? Extroverts share more than introverts. And people who are egocentric share more than those who are not.
Teixeira’s hypothesis is that egocentric people share in order to increase their social status. They are sharing to show others how savvy they are.
He suggests that if you want your content to go viral, figure out how to find the egocentric extroverts, for example, people who already share a lot on social media.
Takeaways
- When you want your content to go viral, include strong emotional content, especially content that produces positive emotions.
- When you want your content to go viral, make sure the material is surprising, but not shocking.
- When you want your content to go viral, target people who are extroverts and/or egocentric. Look for people who are already active on social media.
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