Does "Going Viral" Equal Pop Culture?

Ah, you just went viral on TikTok. What now? Are you trying to go viral again? Are you trying to gain more followers? Does your post have a million hashtags? Are we ever posting online just for ourselves, and not trying to impress anyone or trying to go viral? 

As I went through this module, one of the top thoughts I had in my head was: Okay, how does pop culture and virality correlate? Is one a byproduct of the other? In my head, I started thinking about the countless TikTok videos (and sounds) that go viral, and why do they? Do these viral videos count as pop culture, or is pop culture and going viral the same thing?

In my undergrad, I also studied communications with a further emphasis in media and public relations. One of the courses that came to mind was my social media fundamentals class. Through this course, we discussed why things go viral. The book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger, shares the acronym of S.T.E.P.P.S. and how these are the reasons for why things catch on:  

Social Currency  - Is is socially applicable? 

 

Triggers - Does is relate to us and our needs? 

 

Emotion - What emotions does is create? Extremely happy or extremely angry might be the key. 

 

Public - Does is have a high like count? How many shares does it have? The more that people can access it, there is a higher chance of catching on. 

 

Practical Value - Can we actually use this information somewhere? Is it too hard to accomplish?  

 

Stories - Does it have reviews, comments, or influencers and testimonials talking about it? Are people truly happy to talk about it, and share their experience? 

In this book, Berger demonstrates the six reasons why things catch on. He uses examples to demonstrate including advertisements, workplace rumors, luxury businesses, and even the local Utah business: Blendtec. Up above, I have included an example that I created based on the "whipped coffee" trend a few years back.

In this module, this book came to mind as I was going through the content. Is going viral our way of fitting in with pop culture that has already been established? Or are we making things pop culture because they go viral? It also makes me wonder about who is given the "power" to make things pop culture. Who starts the chain?

I realize that these questions could be semantics, but it is important to note that maybe things that are viral, are pop culture, and vice versa. We cannot forget that pop culture is short for "popular culture." 

However, it is interesting to think about how pop culture can be subjective to all of us. Dr. Stein demonstrates in the module video that his pop culture is 80s music, movies, and shows, while ours might be current trending topics, such as TikTok, movies (e.g. Barbie, Oppenheimer, etc.), and shows. While pop culture could correlate with what is going "viral" at the moment, we can see that it is not what everyone sees as pop culture, or pertinent to their idea of viral. 

While thinking further on this idea, I am reminded of the Marketing department at my workplace. I work at an essential oil company. The Marketing department is trying to appeal to their current buyers, while also trying to gain a new following or new purchasers. How do they do this? Appealing to their demographics and/or staying on trend. At my company, our main demographic is women, ages 21 to 65. In this case, we relate to them on social media by posting about routines that may be applicable to women (self care, make-up, etc.), or by staying on trend, which means following pop culture. Often, this includes relating to current trends (for example, if a new movie came out that is all the craze), or focusing on what is going viral (e.g. TikTok trends). It is amazing to see the amount of new people that might purchase from the brand just because the company is relating to things going viral or relating to pop culture. People do not want to miss out. 

As I wrapped up my studies for this module, with the help of all the texts, I came up with an ever-growing list of what constitutes pop culture: 

• There is a time frame - Whether short or long term, pop culture is something that sticks around during that time frame. It might be what everyone is talking about in that time frame.
• Mainstream - Again, everyone might be talking about it! I enjoyed reading the Klosterman article, because even though Klosterman had not seen or read Harry Potter, the guess he had about the main plot line was not far off at all. And I can bet you he made many of those guesses by referring to previous experiences he had seen in pop culture or things that went viral, and by thinking about what would make millions go crazy over a franchise. 
• Gratification - We love a feel good story. 
• Complex and overlapping - Things are everywhere: Movies, books, shows, posters, red carpets, etc., and there are different ways of how they overlap. Appearances of pop culture are not always the same in each instance (e.g. Barbie might be portrayed differently in media to little girls compared to adult women; there are many studies on advertisements and marketing tactics). 
• Contains ideologies - I recently wrote a paper on how TikTok is currently influencing overconsumption through TikTok Shop and hashtags compared to Instagram, where there is more of a political stance on overconsumption. As mentioned by Dr. Stein, "Content is pervasive." While pop culture is a lot about what is out there on media, books, shows, and how it is often fun or not given much thought, content could be influencing us to think a certain way or make us perceive reality in a certain way. 
• Experienced through texts - As previously mentioned, pop culture consists of a lot of what is out there to consume. Nowadays, we might experience pop culture on social media, and from there, we might feel "informed" and can gain social capital to talk to anyone about it. I think of an experience at work where someone mentioned they did not have Facebook. People were astonished at the fact, and at this point in the conversation, the social capital was finished. Conversations may not be had due to this person not having Facebook.

It was great to be able to look at the differences and similarities between "viral" content and pop culture. It definitely makes me think about what I am consuming and how pop culture comes to light through media. It also makes me more aware of what is going viral and for what reason. It would be an interesting experiment to track how many times pop culture is talked about in my daily interactions. 

How do you see pop culture and viral content? Who starts the pop culture chain?