Deep dive: The evolution of going viral
Because back in the good ol’ days, all you needed was white Vans.
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Never in my 21 years of living did I think I’d ever write about the evolution of going viral on social media. Okay, to be fair, I never thought I’d be writing as a job, but writing about this? Truly very Carrie Bradshaw (I’ve never watched Sex and the City, but my boss calls me Carrie Bradshaw, so I just roll with it). Look, I know I’ve said there’s no formula to virality, and I still stand by it, so why am I writing this? Because I’m a nerd, unfortunately, and this piqued my interest. So, let’s chart the evolution of virality and how we went from white Vans to eating tide pods. No shade. But if you did that, it’s natural selection at that point (also, I hope you’re okay). ANYWAY.
Back to our ways, like in 2014
Not to freak you out or make you feel old or anything, but 2014 was ten years ago. Yeah, time flies when a pandemic takes away three years, and your life’s falling apart. I’ve charted the evolution of social media in one of our older newsletters, and social media basically only popped off in the 2010s. That entire decade made celebrities and influencers out of anyone and everyone. Most of them aren’t relevant now, but I’m sensing they will be for a while in the near future.
Vine was the first short-form video platform and almost acts like a predecessor to TikTok. This is where people primarily found their fame. I’m guessing because we only had six seconds to send a message, it forced us to be funnier. There was also no concept of trending sounds, so many Vines don’t have sounds. It was simple. It was beautiful. Even Twitter made stars back in the day. Remember Alex from Target? Yeah, he went viral because a photo of him bagging items went viral ON TWITTER. Now, all people use Twitter for is to find out who got cancelled.
2013 to 2018 was when I think social media platforms were still finding their footing. Every platform had unique features, and nobody stole any features from anyone (until 2016, when Instagram introduced stories). And although it meant ten times more work, an influencer could provide novelty on each platform. Social media was so unserious that it ACTUALLY felt like a community. Long-form videos stayed on YouTube, short-form on Vine, curated feeds on Instagram, hourly updates of your life on Twitter, and your undying love for Henry Cavill stayed on Tumblr. Undying love is putting it gently, by the way, because people on Tumblr were VILE. They still are, actually, but nobody bothers with them. So what changed?
Isolation, novelty and the influencer craze
Remember the lockdowns? I remember them like it happened yesterday. But do you know what else happened? People decided that shame wasn’t for them and went feral. Now, I’m all for being feral and shameless. You ask my friends, and some of them will say the same about me, but I’m not LICKING ICE CREAM TUBS AT A GROCERY STORE AND PUTTING THEM BACK. I understand it was a trying time, but seriously?
We’ve been doing crazy trends since the beginning of influencer culture. Off the top of my head, we had the cinnamon challenge, salt and ice and chubby bunny. Chubby Bunny wasn’t as lethal, but all those marshmallows in your mouth have got to hurt. But none were as lethal as the ones that came after TikTok became a giant — eating Tide pods, licking toilet seats, and drinking unsafe amounts of Benadryl.
My guess is people saw how easy it was to go viral and wanted to do the extreme to get their 15 minutes of fame. Also, keep in mind that in the 2010s, going viral could mean ending up on Ellen and Fallon (or Dr. Phil). Our generation grew up seeing fail videos on TV; we just started to get more access to them with social media. On top of that, we began idolising influencers over celebrities and seeing how accessible it was. People started to do everything they could to climb the ladder.
Conclusion: social media brain rot is real
Fame a decade ago lasted longer and was easier to achieve without putting yourself in harm’s way. Going viral today means nothing if you can’t sustain it. But you also can’t run it into the ground by milking it constantly. Fame and virality are tricky now, especially when ads control social media and content creation. And with TikTok’s rise, it’s even easier to go viral now, so everything posted on the internet now is with the intention (read: wish) of going viral. I sound holier than thou, but I do that too (at least when I used to post regularly).
The thing is, we’ve all stopped trying to create a community. The person behind ‘Damn Daniel’ didn’t post with the intention of wanting to go viral. It happened by chance. The numbers that matter are the ones against your engagement rate. Your followers mean nothing if there’s no interaction. A prime example is Ashley, aka Best Dressed. She hasn’t posted on YouTube in a hot minute, but she has a very active community on Instagram and TikTok. Her COMMUNITY got her deals with fashion houses, not her numbers. And it’s something I’ve repeated time and time again. Post to create a community. I’d much rather have a smaller but active community over a large number of followers but minimal engagement. THAT is how you stay relevant.
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— Written by Shaurya, Trends Reporter at The Z Link
Connect with Shaurya on Instagram where she shares great content and lives her best influencer life as a fashion student in London. And she writes all of these great issues too. What can’t she do??? 🧐 Thank you for reading!