Pugs go viral
I had never stopped and think about why some of the posts we see in social media go viral so fast, until now. In the cyberspace we are constantly been bombed with tons of posts, comments, pictures and videos, but as we know, not all of them spread among users with the same pace. What have those posts that make them go so viral? Why does people like to share specific kind posts to others? I really would like to understand it better, maybe if I pick up an example of one of the popular posts I have shared to my friends it could explain me why does it went viral and what was that made me share it in my social network.
The post I am going to talk about does not outstand for been scientific nor deep in content, its name is “Doug the Pug”, for those who don’t know him, Doug the Pug is simply another dog, he is a 3 years old golden Pug, who lives in Nashville and that looks exactly like any other regular chubby Pug. The big difference between Doug and the rest of the less famous average four-footed barking fellows is what his owner did with him. Not long ago, Leslie Mosier, Doug’s official owner, professional manager, PR and poop cleaner decided to dress him up like the most trendy and famous pop stars, TV and movie characters, to film him with appropriate stages and back music, and simply post the home-made videos on the Internet. The end result: 4 million followers in social media!!! Indeed, more followers than the average pop star queen would ever have… He is now probably the most famous dog on the Internet.
The first time I saw him was about 1 year ago, due to a good friend of mine who posted one of his video on Facebook, it was a very funny video where Doug the Pug was dressed up as Harry Potter, wearing Gryffindor robe and scarf and using this horrible nerdy glasses just as Potter. But what in this world made me share this foolish content with my family and friends on the Internet? After all it is only a simple fist-faced dog with a costume.
By thinking on why did I share that?
It comes to my mind four potential reasons:
- Ok, let’s see, Pugs have the unique characteristic of having this flat ugly-cute grumpy face that looks like if they were smelling something horrible all the time, but on the other hand they are simply this furry ball of hear with piggy-curly tale that combined with the Harry Potter’s custom made at that moment the perfect mix to create amusement with quirky style and trendy topics. Reason #1: Entertainment
- Before I saw this video, I didn’t know that my friend (the one who originally posted it on Facebook) liked Pugs. But after it, on a very easy way I started sharing comments with her about dogs and specially Pugs, I told her about my own dogs and I even shared some silly pictures of myself and my dogs to her. This particular situation somehow made us strengthen the relationship and have more empathy with each other. Maybe people in some proportion (and perhaps unconsciously) share posts to reinforce or find new relationships. Reason #2: Social Connection
- Now that I think about it I have to admit that when a saw the video for the first time I really got excited with it, perhaps just as much as the moment when my first dog walked around my apartment when she was a puppy. There was without a doubt a strong emotion inside me and possibly that influenced me in willing to share it with my friends. Reason #3: Emotions
- Going a little bit deeper on my self-diagnose I realized something else…, Now that I reflect on it, I can see that it was more important for to make the world know about that post than anything else (the feeling was similar to the one you feel when you wear your favorite football’s team jersey in front of the rival’s fans). It is like feeling proud of a membership or honored to belong to a certain group. There was definitely an instinctive reaction that drove me to do that, but why? It’s easy!! I belong to that group, I am that way, and I want people to know about it!! It could sound mawkish, but I am the proud owner of two charming Pugs, and have been for 8 years. They have been there in good and bad times, always there, loyal, brave, grateful, and simple; always living and enjoying the moment. They have given me so much care and happiness all this years and they are now part of my life, part of myself. Reason #4: Build an Identity
Now that I know a little bit more about some of the reasons that make people post on social media, my only recommendation when sharing, memes, images, pics, videos or whatever viral post you want to share is: be yourself and share things that matter to you, feel free to give opinions and participate in social media, but keep in mind that there is an open space and you could find people with different opinions and points of view than yours, take care of yourself specially with personal issues (you don’t want to see something really personal go viral), and last but not least have fun!
