Turns out that viral sharing is over rated. Tracking memes and “viral content”, analytics show that they stay within small circles until famous hit makers and influences get involved. Distribution is more similar to traditional broadcast media than you think. And most people find out about content through the big broadcasters promoting.
“Facebook initially went ‘viral,’ not by building a product that every person might share with five other people, like a disease, but by using networks that existed. They digitized the Harvard network that existed, and the Ivy League networks that already existed.”
Read more: Here’s the secret to making things popular (hint: It’s not ‘going viral’)