The paradox of virality

Issue 96: Why we click on stuff we know we won’t like

We constantly hear people complain about the deluge of negative and divisive content on social media. Yet much of the content is created by us—the users!

Why is it that this content constantly goes viral if no one we know actually likes it? Jay wrote an op-ed this week on this paradox of virality with his Postdoc Steve Rathje for the Boston Globe. You can read the full article here, but we will summarize some of the key points in this newsletter.

image credit: Alex Shuper via Unsplash

Lots of research suggests that negativity is more likely to go viral than positive posts. And we have found that this is especially true when people post negative stories about their political opponents: For each individual term referring to the political out-group was used, it increased the odds of a social media post being shared by 67%!

It might seem like people take a bit too much pleasure in the suffering of others—especially their enemies. But a new study we published in the journal Perspectives on P…