Beyond the Listicle: The Science of Virality
Abstract: The growing abundance of trending stories and un-ignorable zeitgeist moments have turned viral stories into the holy grail of content creation. But what does virality really mean, and how can media companies and brands leverage the principles behind shareability and network cascades to build an audience? This panel brings together experts in the fields of social psychology, network science, and content creation to discuss the underlying commonalities of stories that get shared, the myths about virality we still believe, and the paradox that viral stories aren't always clickable. It's time to look beyond the Buzzfeed listicle and talk about the next wave of viral content.
The event was at SXSW 2016 and featured Jessica Novak, Abigail Posner, Sean Wojcik and myself.
The slides for the event can be located below:
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