…” And then it went viral!”
How many times have you heard that 
expression? Someone wrote something, painted something, or photographed something. Suddenly most of the free world knows about it.
Sometimes the story isn’t anything spectacular: perhaps it’s a “cute” story: a kitten befriends a bird, or a baby confronts a bulldog.
Can it be an amazing act of nature? A flood that destroys every street in town but spares Maple Avenue.
Evidently someone thought this story was special enough for the world to see, and so it went viral.
But how does it happen?
Who decides whether to spread one person’s idea of “miraculous,” ‘’fascinating” or “incredible” to everyone on the planet?
How does every newscaster worth his commercials discover someone’s story and broadcast it to everyone owning a television set?
How does a musician worth his harmonies get the entire population to hum his tune?
And how does an author worth his readers get huge followings that only going viral, or being J.K. Rowling, accomplish?
Who is in charge of sending things viral? Or is the correct terminology “making things viral?” Are there auditions for this position? Payoffs? Scholarships?
Whoever it is, or however it happens, I offer some of my stories for consideration of viral-dom!
MorristownMemos 
Comments on: "GOING VIRAL" (13)
I think if I ever go viral it will only be because I have flu.
That would be a high price to pay for an attempt at immortality!
My thoughts exactly … and I admit that if it involves a cat or a kitten, I too can’t resist to watch it.
Aha; a cat lover! We need more people like you to give homes to all the strays.
If it wasn’t for my allergies, I would likely want a handful of them … but the one I have is plenty of trouble enough 😀
I’ve never had anything of mine go viral, but I don’t post anything to Youtube, which seems to be the biggest home to viral! I did have a few blog posts that got a lot of hits locally because I was the only one (for a few days) posting about the flooding in our community. The downside is that your WordPress stats page reminds you forever after that your best ever views were much higher than you will probably ever see again.
That reminds me of two of my friends who were “fresh pressed” by WordPress. Their posts were flooded with hits the first two days. After that the numbers deflated back to normal. Almost nobody who looked at their blogs wound up following them. Fair weather friends, huh?
A very interesting phenomena my friend, something I would like an answer to also.
But my biggest quandary is, why am I the last to know that it went viral in the first place ?
If you go viral I promise to be the first to let you know!
This concept has always intrigued me too.
How can we find out the answer to this question, Ms. Investigative Reporter?
Interesting outlook! Maybe some of my stories could go viral too??
Sure; come along with me; there’s always room for another good writer!