Virality is Dead: How Doomscrolling Killed Viral Content

Thank you to Tempus One for supporting this episode: https://www.tempuswines.com.au/shop/tempus-one-spritzers/In this episode, I explore why the concept of virality is dead. I look at how the death of monoculture and our increased reliance on algorithmic-based content consumption has led to a significantly more fragmented internet culture experience for users. In turn, virality no longer exists in the same way it once did.Timestamps:00:42 Intro3:56 Virality is dead4:57 Viralflation & the death of monoculture7:35 How the internet became fragmented10:33 Why it’s so difficult to measure “virality” now11:20 Brands manufacturing fake viral trends: Athenos Feta soup saga12:57 The rise of vanity metrics on social media & platforms creating artificial virality15:21 Bella Poarch16:19 How Facebook lowered the threshold of what could be considered a “view”18:12 Cheugy as a “viral” word & how the context was completely lost20:08 Virality is unpredictable & fleeting21:30 Risks of going “viral” in 202522:20 TBH Skincare vs. Andrew Tate23:45 Conclusion Find our podcast YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC18HclY7Tt5-1e3Z-MEP7Jg Subscribe to our weekly Substack: https://centennialworld.substack.com/ Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infinitescrollpodcast/ Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenmeisner_/ Sources:https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/09/viral-view-counts-inflation/Maddox, J., & Gill, F. (2023). Assembling “Sides” of TikTok: Examining Community, Culture, and Interface through a BookTok Case Study. Social Media + Society, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231213565 (Original work published 2023)https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/62285/1/salad-fingers-20-anniversary-david-firth-patron-saint-weird-youtube-came-to-life https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/30/flash-youtube-nostalgia https://zeefeed.com.au/kate-middleton-conspiracies-monoculture/ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cheugy https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/style/cheugy.html https://www.reddit.com/r/tiktokgossip/comments/v69nm3/it_seems_like_tiktok_is_inflating_its/ https://www.usermag.co/p/viralflation-comes-to-youtube https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/26/youtube-is-changing-how-youtube-shorts-views-are-counted/