--- title: Going Viral on the Internet Is a Myth description: It's a lie we tell ourselves while wishing the Internet was a perfect democracy canonical: https://time.com/4664999/going-viral-internet-hitmakers/ author: Derek Thompson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-09T11:03:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:13:31.969Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Going Viral on the Internet is a Myth og:description: It's a lie we tell ourselves while wishing the Internet was a perfect democracy og:url: https://time.com/4664999/going-viral-internet-hitmakers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3c39c08b34fea4/6988b980cd1bba15e7703ed1/viral-video-facebook-youtube-reddit-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5210 og:image:height: 2931 og:image:alt: Social network og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Going Viral on the Internet is a Myth twitter:description: It's a lie we tell ourselves while wishing the Internet was a perfect democracy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3c39c08b34fea4/6988b980cd1bba15e7703ed1/viral-video-facebook-youtube-reddit-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Myth of 'Going Viral' on the Internet > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=d6cc5131-89ed-4573-9c25-059151e32f34&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Derek Thompson](https://time.com/author/derek-thompson/) ## Derek Thompson Feb 9, 2017 11:03 AM UTC  Network of tube,Tube is PVC pipe,SNS,Smartphone,Digital tablet Network of tube,Tube is PVC pipe,SNS,Smartphone,Digital tablet Yagi Studio—Getty Images by [Derek Thompson](https://time.com/author/derek-thompson/) ## Derek Thompson Feb 9, 2017 11:03 AM UTC The [Internet](http://time.com/4661438/hysterical-kid-wifi/) is supposedly a hive of virality. When we see a Facebook post with 10,000 shares or a YouTube video with 5 million views, we assume this popularity is driven by zillions of intimate shares, like infected individuals passing along the [flu](http://time.com/4048110/cold-flu-survival/). Do popular ideas and products really go “[viral](http://time.com/4658070/viral-handshake-teacher/)“? For a long time, nobody could be sure. It was hard to precisely track word-of-mouth buzz. But online, scientists can actually follow the journey of a piece of information as it pings around the Internet. In 2012, researchers from Yahoo studied the spread of messages on Twitter. Their conclusion: nothing really ever goes viral. More than 90% of the messages didn’t diffuse at all. The vast majority of the news that people see on Twitter — around 95% — comes directly from its original source or from one degree of separation. Popularity on the Internet is still driven by the biggest broadcasts — not by a million 1-to-1 shares, but rather by a handful of 1-to–1 million shares. Such broadcasts used to be exclusive to legacy companies, like TV channels and FM stations. Now there are new blast points on the Internet, like a Kardashian post or a top spot on Reddit. We want to believe the viral myth because it’s uplifting. It promises small-time writers, photographers and videographers that a moment’s inspiration can transform into sudden fame. It holds up the Internet as a perfect democracy, where anybody can become a star if they make something good enough. In the end, virality is a David myth obscuring the fact that the Internet is still run by Goliaths. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4664999/going-viral-internet-hitmakers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4664999/going-viral-internet-hitmakers/"},"headline":"The Myth of 'Going Viral' on the Internet","datePublished":"2017-02-09T11:03:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:13:31.969Z","description":"It's a lie we tell ourselves","url":"https://time.com/4664999/going-viral-internet-hitmakers/","keywords":["the Internet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3c39c08b34fea4/6988b980cd1bba15e7703ed1/viral-video-facebook-youtube-reddit-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Derek Thompson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/derek-thompson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3c39c08b34fea4/6988b980cd1bba15e7703ed1/viral-video-facebook-youtube-reddit-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Social network","caption":"Social network","creditText":"Yagi Studio—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/the-internet/","name":"the Internet"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4664999/going-viral-internet-hitmakers/","name":"The Myth of 'Going Viral' on the Internet"}}]}] ```