What Makes Something "Interesting"
Nov. 24th, 2019 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI've been using the Tumblr Top tool to look at some of the blogs I follow in order to figure out what makes a post interesting to other people. As far as I can tell, viral posts have three things in common. They are...
(1) Specific
(2) Relatable
(3) Nonjudgmental
To give an example, "Nintendo please let us pet the dogs in BotW2!!" is about (1) a specific feature in a specific game, (2) relatable because people like petting dogs, and (3) nonjudgmental because Nintendo isn't being overtly criticized for not including the feature in the first game.
To give another example, this bizarrely popular post of mine is (1) about a super-niche manga, (2) understandable to anyone who's familiar with internet culture, but (3) not mocking the manga, furries, or the sort of people who are REALLY into horses.
I have many more examples that fit this model, but I'm not sure what to do with this knowledge. It's a worthwhile observation, but I have no desire to artificially engineer viral shitposts on Tumblr. If I have ever done or said anything interesting in my life, I can assure you that it's been entirely by accident.
(1) Specific
(2) Relatable
(3) Nonjudgmental
To give an example, "Nintendo please let us pet the dogs in BotW2!!" is about (1) a specific feature in a specific game, (2) relatable because people like petting dogs, and (3) nonjudgmental because Nintendo isn't being overtly criticized for not including the feature in the first game.
To give another example, this bizarrely popular post of mine is (1) about a super-niche manga, (2) understandable to anyone who's familiar with internet culture, but (3) not mocking the manga, furries, or the sort of people who are REALLY into horses.
I have many more examples that fit this model, but I'm not sure what to do with this knowledge. It's a worthwhile observation, but I have no desire to artificially engineer viral shitposts on Tumblr. If I have ever done or said anything interesting in my life, I can assure you that it's been entirely by accident.
