“To sell something familiar, make it surprising. To sell something surprising, make it familiar” - Derek Thompson
From the ice bucket challenge to the mannequin challenge or the recent video of a United Airlines passenger being unceremoniously thrown off a plane, in this networked age the idea that a piece of content has gone viral has become a badge of honour for its creators.
Before the online-dominated world we now live in some film clips, TV episodes or videos would get shared and become wildly popular too, but it was all very analog.
A VHS or cassette tape or a clip might get passed around by hand or via a bulletin board, or even through those email attachments you'd get into trouble for opening and forwarding to people at work.
But in the digital age where sharing content has become so much easier, is it right to think of us catching a good meme like we catch a cold?
According to journalist Derek Thompson, content does not spread like the flu, and using a disease analogy to represent popularity is just plain wrong.
He reckons that behind every cultural 'hit' there's always an initial broadcast to a big audience, whether that's by someone famous on Twitter or in a TV news story.
Thompson explores novelty, virality and the whole concept of online popularity in his book Hit Makers.
"The mere observation that something is popular, or even that it became so rapidly, is not sufficient to establish that it spread in a manner that resembles a virus. Popularity on the internet is driven by the size of the largest broadcast." - Derek Thompson
