Menu Close

Articles on Going viral

Displaying all articles

The milk crate challenge went viral in the summer of 2021. ER doctors weren’t amused. Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty Images

Teenage brains are drawn to popular social media challenges – here’s how parents can get their kids to think twice

Adolescent brains are especially vulnerable to risk-taking and social pressure. But there are steps parents can take to steer their teen away from dangerous social media stunts.
Marcella Zoia, seen here leaving a Toronto court house, has pleaded guilty to a charge of mischief endangering life after throwing a chair from a balcony of a high-rise condo. .THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

What Freud tells us about Chair Girl – and ourselves

The woman known as Chair Girl is reviled not because of her impulsive, foolish crime, but because of how her mistake unexpectedly propelled her to instant internet stardom.
Mishaps can spiral out of control quickly these days. Kamil Krzaczynski/AP Photo

How social media turned United’s PR flub into a firestorm

Incidents that may have been mere hiccups a few years ago today can go viral in an instant, causing a massive backlash and leaving some of the biggest companies wrong-footed.
For Grumpy Cat, a random internet post led to global fame and red carpet appearances. Danny Moloshok/Reuters

Memetics and the science of going viral

This scientific field suggests people have been passing along memes since long before the birth of the internet. What makes one bit of culture take off, while another sinks from sight?
Modern video technology can make matters public, but accountability still depends on political processes to produce just outcomes. YouTube/screenshot

Accountability and the viral video: there are still no guarantees

Mobile video technology means outrageous behaviour and abuses can rapidly become public knowledge, but achieving just outcomes still depends on a political willingness to act on such knowledge.
For a cause to go viral, it has to garner widespread interest from enough members of a diversity of tribes, not just one. Kymberly Janisch

The Ice Bucket Challenge and social media virality

The news that broke last night of the accidental death of the Ice Bucket Challenge pioneer, Corey Griffin, has come as a shock. The Ice Bucket Challenge, where people film themselves or friends dumping…
If only it were this straightforward. Alias 0591

Hard Evidence: how does false information spread online?

Last summer the World Economic Forum (WEF) invited its 1,500 council members to identify top trends facing the world, including what should be done about them. The WEF consists of 80 councils covering…

Top contributors

More