Virality connects virility as kiss heats social media
The Internet offers limitless educational opportunities and chances for interaction.
The greatest think tank ever produced by human beings allows for transmission of ideas, thoughts and opinions that travel faster than the speed of light and sound. Bloggers sizzle, tweeters deliver radioactive content while Facebook and Instagram presents mindboggling platforms.
Many participants hope for that one time when a post reaches “viral” status. We hear the phrase frequently as a photo, image, video or comment reaches the social stage described by Urban Dictionary as “something that spreads rapidly through a population by being frequently shared with a number of individuals.”
Any social media freak worth their weight in artificial intelligence can offer an adequate ballpark definition for viral. An interest here connects to what makes “viral”, linked particularly to a recent website post that involved Tyler Hightower, a cancer research coordinator, and his boyfriend, Ahdeem Tinsley, a construction manager.
Hightower, AfricanAmerican and gay, posted a photo of a kiss shared with Tinsley. “Posting this because representation matters. The black, gay, and happy gworls are out here!” Hightower wrote in an Oct. 1 tweet that gained viral status. “We live together and have two cats. … We are at our 1 year and 8th month mark and still going strong!”
NBC News reported that the African American couple met about two years ago, hung out platonically for a while then realized their affections were worth pursuing in a love relationship. Hightower, influenced by another post he had witnessed, followed with a personal tweet that collected more than 100,000 likes and 12,000 shares in just two days. Ahh, the kiss, not exactly Gustav Klimt but newsworthy apparently.
A study titled “What Makes Online Content Viral” by Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed nearly 7,000 New York Times articles and delivered these insights about viral posts including the idea that most provided “high arousal emotions” whether those feelings were connected to negative or positive responses.
Berger and Milkman suggested that “virality is partially driven by physiological arousal. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral.” Peaked-interest items were more likely to be shared along with other material that cultivated high emotions such as anger, anxiety and dislike.
An achievement of viral status demands more volatility than conservative perspectives.
“The responses have been awe-inspiring,” Hightower told NBC News. “People are replying saying that the picture made their day and that they didn’t know there was love for people like them.”
In the LGBTQ community, according to Hightower, “classically attractive white gay men” receive the most representation, which excludes others who may not fit that paradigm. As a result, he wanted to show others that people like him and his partner are “out here, working and living and falling in love.”
“Part of our identity is being fat, heavy, thick, black and gay men, and we want all people to know that no matter your size, color or religion, be yourself and live authentically, and you will find love,” Hightower said. “I’d been closeted for a very long time, and now I’ve found true happiness.”
Happiness? That’s a great life experience and the positive responses to people living freely can offer strong foundation for love. And viral? Well, it’s a lot like that good relationship, most of the time it happens when one least expects such an outcome.
However, let’s not kid ourselves. The United States remains immersed in prejudice, bias, bigotry and many other conditions that deny individuals their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We make incremental advances then chuff about our improvements although understanding and supporting human equality should not require centuries.
“The thing about viral is that whatever the topic, it lasts for about a nanosecond and then we move onto the next flavor of the day,” a friend noted.
Pray for the day when love, acceptance, peace and equality go viral and experience an everlasting shelf life.