Going Viral: The Technology behind the Trend
As I sat watching endless tiktok videos yesterday, I realized that I saw the same dance multiple times, the same song, the same number of likes. I instinctively felt that this was a “viral” trend, but I didn’t know why this felt like a viral trend and didn’t know why I felt there was an increasing number of viral trends each year.
My hypothesis is that our current technology facilitates the formation and sharing of viral trends. However, there is still an unknow feeling of what makes a trend viral. Perhaps, a memorable event is what really makes a media event viral. I would not describe Orson Welles 1938 dramatic “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast as particularly viral, but it was extremely memorable. In total, this broadcast only reached several thousand people and only a handful of phone calls to the police made the news believe nation-wide hysteria had occurred. Perhaps, the number of people that witness a media event creates the viral sensation. Approximately thirty years after Welles’ broadcast, the moon landing was viewed by more than 600 million people worldwide. To this day, it was one of the most viewed televised events in history. While others have described the moon landing as the first viral event, it does not feel as persistent as something like the ice bucket challenge. To go “viral”, a video needs a combination of memorability, viewership, and some persistence for more than a single viewing. Each piece requires of this viral equation requires an underlying, enabling technology.
Streaming (Television)
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how many words are in a film? At the heart of viral trends is usually a video. Rarely, if ever, do we hear of a viral article or radio show. Videos are able to convey more data than print or audio media in a similar time that it takes to consume. As such, aggregation of videos that are persistently accessible drive viral trends. YouTube was the first website designed for a single location for sharing personal videos. The website, which has been one of the most viewed websites ever, has driven an industry of video sharing technologies from Netflix streaming to Snapchat and Twitter. Each of these new video sharing technologies has enabled users to view videos over and over again allowing for the persistent exchange of viral trends.
Mobile Phones
Bill Gates had a vision of a computer for every desk and in every home. It was a bold idea and yet fell far short of what would really happen in the world of personal computing. More than 40 years later, there is a computer in every pocket, and this has driven part of the viral video making machine. The aforementioned ice bucket challenge would not have been the same had individuals needed to view the videos on their home computer, take a video on a camera outside, download the video to a computer back in the same house, and finally upload the video to the internet. The advent of the smart phone with Steve Job’s speech in 2007 was the dawn of a new age during which each of these steps could be accomplished on a single device. While YouTube gave the world a way to easily view new viral trends, the smart phone in every pocket helped create these trends and spread them with ease.
Data Networks
Of course, mobile phones that allow users to view HD videos and send their own video response are not possible without a data network to support them. What good is a mobile phone for creating viral trends if you have no internet to share them? Data networks are the hidden champion for supporting viral trends. In the US these networks are built on the backbone of the US cable industry which was an amalgamation of local television providers from the dawn of the national TV age. This technology is no small component to viral trends. Verizon pays $15 billion every year just to maintain their network. As cameras have improved to take more high-quality viral videos, the network technology to transmit them around the world has equally improved.
I am not sure what makes one trend viral or a flop. I do not understand the psychology behind the appeal of viral videos. But I do know that without the video streaming technology on our smart phones that send these videos over expansive data networks, we would not be to enjoy that next weird dance on tiktok.
