What goes on in our brains when we decide to hit the share button, and what makes something go viral?
Since the dawn of the internet, businesses, media outlets and influencers alike have been trying to answer these questions. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have come one step closer to cracking this elusive formula by shining a light on the neuroscience of viral content.
"Sharing is key for the reach and impact of ideas," Emily Falk, professor of communication, psychology and marketing at the university's Annenberg School for Communication, and Hang-Yee Chan, a lecturer at King's College London, told Newsweek. "Our study finds a way to extract brain signals that would predict how much information gets shared."
Back in 2017, the team demonstrated how the brain activity of just 40 individuals in the U.S. could predict which articles from the New York Times would gain major traction online. But in a new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on October 23, the team replicated their findings, this time in both the U.S. and the Netherlands and using a broader range of news categories—including health and climate change.
As part of their investigation, 94 participants from the U.S. and the Netherlands were asked to read a series of headlines and online summaries for a series of New York Times articles while undergoing an fMRI to study their brain activity.
"When we see greater activation of regions that track self-relevance ("Is it important to me") and social-relevance ("Is it important to people I know"), the news articles are more likely to be shared widely," Falk and Chan said.
By studying these brain responses, the team were able to build a value-based model to accurately predict how widely the articles would be shared online. This link between brain activity and sharing was seen in both the American and Dutch participants, suggesting that this model is accurate across cultures.
"Seeing how people's brains react inside the scanner gives us insight into why people ultimately share information in this day and age," Chan said. "If we understand these signals, we might be able to use that knowledge to help important news get shared and stop misinformation from going viral."
This knowledge could also be helpful for content creators aiming to maximize their reach. "Our current study demonstrates how tapping into the brain would help content creators optimize their messaging," Falk and Chan said. "We are interested in building on these results to develop ways to counter harmful information, false news, and propaganda, in addition to spreading high-quality content."
Falk said that the team were "really proud of this work."
"A lot of our most pressing problems in society are influenced by the decisions that people make, and the decisions we make are influenced by the news. What you share matters, and so understanding why you share it matters too."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
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