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What Makes a Story 'Viral'?

Michael Ryan discusses his Humanities on Demand class, which invited students to decide what topics were covered

Part of the Humanities Writ Large Series

In putting together his Humanities on Demand course, Michael Ryan did something unusual: He asked students to submit the subject matter for the course.

He did so to better involve students in the entirety of the learning process. As the class draws to a close, he spoke to Duke Today about what he's learned.

Q: In your class, you examine how something goes "viral," and students have submitted material to examine. What are some of the more unusual ideas submitted for study?

RYAN: Unusual submissions included viral pieces like "He-Man sings 4 Non Blondes," "Inmates perform Thriller," and "Miss Teen USA 2007- South Carolina Answers a Question."

All of these works are of academic interest: the He-Man piece (embedded below) is interesting because it confronts preconceived notions of masculinity; Inmates perform Thriller allows us to consider issues of accessibility to social media; Miss Teen USA is notable because it reveals how viral culture often appeals to our desire to feel superior to other people.

Q:  How has the reliance on student-submitted course material affected the way you teach a class?

RYAN: I don't think it has affected the way I teach, but it has certainly affected the way I prepare to teach. In other words, because students sometimes submit material that I am not familiar with, it means that I have to spend more time preparing for class!    

Q:  It seems like something new has "gone viral" on YouTube every couple months. Most recently, it was the "Harlem Shake". Has that come up in class? And if so, what sort of academic scrutiny do you apply to it?

RYAN: Yes, user-generated memes like the "Harlem Shake" were discussed in class. Here it is important to recognize that when user-generated content is uploaded to a for-profit website, users often forfeit their rights to the material. Viewed critically, this means that they are effectively functioning as an unpaid digital labor force.

Q: Did things go "viral" before the Internet?

RYAN: One could argue that they did. But for a number of reasons we generally view the phenomenon as something peculiar to the Internet. For example, one could argue that popular books went "viral" prior to the Internet in so far as readers may have shared a good book with other readers, causing the text to spread quickly throughout the population.

And yet, as this course reveals, viral culture tends to follow a very particular pattern: 1) a video/meme is uploaded to a website; 2) the piece is viewed and then repeatedly shared via other social media (email, Facebook, etc.); 3) a massive, instantaneous spike in viewership occurs; 4) interest in the piece is quickly lost.

So, as opposed to the spread of a popular book, viral artifacts spread across digital platforms at a much faster pace. Additionally, in viral culture, a popular piece is often quickly and repeatedly replicated by the masses -- as a spoof, for example -- and then swiftly re-distributed. In terms of replication and speed of deployment, this doesn't/can't happen with a book. Crucial to viral culture is the ease with which an artifact can be reproduced.

Another way to answer your question is to say: Of course things went viral prior to the Internet; they include typhoid, cholera and gonorrhea. Like a YouTube video, a "virus" is spread from person-to-person "contact."