The Anatomy of Going Viral

I’m writing this because I just had a big interesting night. There is a website that I use everyday to get my news called Digg.com. I love Digg because it puts the most popular stories, as voted on by its many users, on the front page (Talk about Democracy!). I have been using Digg forever, but last night after the presidential debate I tried my hand at submitting a story on one of the more silly gaffes made by one of the candidates.

My Story went viral (although I’m not sure why considering how silly the story was)! It was picking up votes (Diggs) like crazy. After about an hour of insanity, it made the front page. (It was now in front of millions of Digg Users). The Digg Frequency Tripled and it currently sits on the top Five “All Topics” Section.

Even though this post is extremely nerdy, I wanted to share my “Digg Post Journey” in Pictures. (Please note that I think that the story is being blown out of proportion…but it was amazing how many Digger’s got fired up over it)

Without Further Delay: “The Anatomy of Going Viral in Pictures” (Click on Images For Full Size)

When The Story Initially Reached The Front Page

It Shot Up like Crazy After its Debut on Page 1

As it went into the "Big List"

As of This Posting it Was Number 5 on the "Top in All Topics" List

I realize that this isn’t our usual subject matter, but I thought this was a good demonstration of the power of internet advertising. I’ve had some users ask me if advertising on Google is a Good idea…. Google’s Traffic is around 3x the daily traffic of Digg…. In Short… Yes… Google Advertising Works….

I got a kick out of this and I hope you did too. If you see this tonight, you can probably jump over to Digg and see my story still up!

G’Night

Dr. Ben

—UPDATE—

10/8/08 at 9AMCT

It’s getting really interesting now as the story is now number one “in all topics” on Digg. It’s amazing how a silly “slip of the tongue has gotten so much attention.

The Number 1 Story on Digg

—Update—

The story continues to pick up steam… I’m really flabbergasted at the response people are having to this. I’m not a McCain fan by any stretch, but the kind of bad press he’s getting over this is ridiculous. I don’t know if I could take people examing everything I say so closely. Being a presidential candidate is a lot to take on.