12.6. The Experience of Going Viral

While many people on social media post in hopes of getting attention and even going viral, those who have actually had their content go viral often have mixed feelings about it. For example, author Roxane Gay has said, “Content going viral is overwhelming, intimidating, exciting, and downright scary. [l53].”

The Washington Post wrote a series of articles on the experience of going viral, first On TikTok, instant fame often comes with a price: Sleepless nights, shadowbans and viral cruelty [l54], and then Sorry you went viral. TikTok’s explosive stardom has created a new kind of celebrity. But nothing goes viral like rage. [l54]. Researcher Dr. Casey Fiesler was interviewed for these articles and talks more about it in this TikTok video [l55]:

@professorcasey Sorry you went viral. TikTok article from Washington Post! Features a lot of your favs plus co-authored by @Taylor Lorenz. Some more of my thoughts on virality, social media accordances, recommender systems, and Twitter vs TikTok. #tiktok #aiethics #recommendersystem #contentmoderation #contentcreators #greenscreen ♬ original sound - Dr. Casey Fiesler

Professor Henry Farrell points out some of the dangers of trying to maintain attention when someone does go viral [l56]:

We live in a climate, where once people are Internet famous, they get rapid and large scale attention. Some of them like it, and/or can make careers from it. They keep on pressing the button for that dopamine hit or increase in engagement, and if they aren’t careful, they end up becoming caricatures of themselves.

In short: we live in a media ecology that creates incentives for Internet famous people to become crude approximations of themselves if they want to keep on being Internet famous. Some of them play to their crowd. Some of them embrace the role of Bold Contrarian Truthteller (playing to one crowd, while outraging another). Both tend to play up what gets attention. Both have incentives to double down on error rather than admitting it.