Viral Videos Play on Emotions

Jonah Lehrer’s article “Why Do Viral Videos Go Viral?” tells the audience about the popularity of videos on the internet, and why they are so popular, along with the reasons why people watch them. It explains the social psychology of why this happens through the viral video of “Charlie Bit my Finger…Again.” This video shows a little boy sitting with his little brother Charlie, and Charlie bites his brothers finger. At first the boy screams, but then starts an uncontrollable laughter. Now we as the viewers are witnessing this and we also experience a cycle of emotions. We start out watching with excitement, and then that excitement turns into concern when the child appears hurt, and once he begins to laugh it becomes contagious and you can’t help but laugh along as well.

Now with all of this being said, the question on the mind is, why do we watch things like this and how does it become so popular? Well, according to Lehrer’s article, a man named Jonah Berger says a video goes viral because “it has to do with the visceral emotions it arouses in viewers.” He explains that the “popularity of such videos is rooted in the way they excite the body, inducing a spectrum of physiological changes.” He also explains that when people are in certain states of arousal, they are more likely to share information. Examples of studies are explained and with that the same result kept coming. “He discovered instead that the most popular stories were those that triggered the most arousing emotions, such as awe and anger. We don’t want to share facts—we want to share feelings.”

Now the next question in our minds is, why do people want to do this? Well, its been found “that people often share strong emotions as a means of fostering connection and solidarity.” And that the whole point of this article is that, “because people have a deep need to share their emotions, there will always be an insatiable demand for funny baby videos, angry political rants and Justin Bieber songs. Such content can often seem frivolous and superficial. But the content isn’t the point. The viral clip is merely a means to an end, an efficient way to tell someone else that, for a few moments at least, we’d like to feel the same thing.”

Now comes the next question, why is this article so important? Well, it serves as an example of something that may serve as a misrepresentation of discourse. As factual as everything in this article appears, I am not fully convinced that we are getting all of the information we need. Through examples of stases, I would classify this piece as a section of higher stases. It connects with the reader and the outside world by using a familiar example to get its point across. Although the article gives examples of some studies that were given on the popularity of articles and videos based on emotion, I think that it could be completely heresay. For example, it depends on who your audience is. If you are someone who enjoys funny baby videos and comical videos, then this article would be factual and completely relevant to you, but if you don’t then that would disprove the entire concept of the article. I think this article is more of the idea of human interest than it is news related, because this wouldn’t be something that would be put on the news. It’s an article of interest for those who enjoy youtube videos and for those who watch so many of the “viral” videos.

I think that this article could be legitimate or illegitimate, because of the fact that a lot of it, although backed up by some evidence, is persuasive, especially to those who are more emotional and can relate more personally to this. I also believe that age and gender plays a large role. Someone younger may just find humor in a video like “Charlie bit my finger” whereas a mother would instantly react with concern to a child in pain and may not find it funny that this was posted on the internet.

In the end, I believe this article is overall good, but we cannot take every piece of information in it as accurate because a lot of other outside factors haven’t been explained and I think it has been particularly focused on one specific audience.


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/why-do-viral-videos-go-viral/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM