What type of information is mostly likely to be shared online? University of Pennsylvania researchers studied The New York Times most emailed articles and found that awe-inspiring content is the most likely to go viral. Dr. Jonah Berger explains why:
Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion. If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer together.
In other words, we are driven to share and connect around emotionally powerful content. Awe is an “emotion of self-transcendence, a feeling of admiration and elevation in the face of something greater than the self.” That's emotionally powerful stuff.
Many of the articles classified as awe-inspiring came from NYT's science reporting. It's probably not surprising that topics such as evolution and cosmology inspire awe. One of my favorite videos of the past year was A Glorious Dawn (with 3 million+ views) from the Symphony of Science series. I challenge you to watch it and not be filled with a sense of awe and/or wonder:
Can brands inspire awe to spread their own messages? Short answer, yes. One way to do so is to piggyback on a significant cultural trend that your brand is a part of, so long as it's not overtly self-serving. Note that you never feel you're being marketed to during this awesome Socialnomics video. If you did, it wouldn't have had the same level of viral success.
It's arguable whether brands themselves can be awe-inspiring but it is easier to spread positive word-of-mouth about brands that strive towards a purpose larger than themselves. Google stakes an ambitious mission, "to organize the world's information," and their efforts toward that goal have been pretty damn awesome.
How can brands tap into awe? Who is doing it successfully?
