How does content become viral when it is shared on networks? What process goes on in our brain to determine if a post is worth sharing? According to a study carried out by the University of Pennsylvania (United States), when people choose what to read or recommend, they think both of themselves and of others, observing higher levels of neuronal activity.
The results of the research have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and in P sychological Science . In addition, the main authors of the project, Christin Scholz and Elisa Baek, have measured the brain activity of the participants when reading various articles and have predicted when a specific content will be shared on the networks. Thus, according to the researcher Baek, when a person decides what to read and share, they usually also think about their relationship with others, since the social world and our concept of ourselves are intertwined.
Can the virality of a content be predicted?
In the first phase of the research, the scientists measured the brain activity of the participants while reading articles and, using the same contents, the researchers were able to predict the virality of an article among the set of readers of the New York Times, which was shared a total of 117 611 times.
Likewise, the scientists detected that brain activity in the analyzed regions generated a signal that gave a value to the article. That signal, precisely, is what predicts what content we are going to share. Additionally, although the majority of the participants were 18-24-year-olds, they came from different demographics than the average New York Times reader.
Likewise, according to researcher Christin Scholz, that the articles are in tune in different brains indicates that there are similar norms and motivations that can give rise to these behaviors (making content viral).
On the other hand, the image we have of ourselves and other people also influences the decision to share content or not. In addition, people have different motivations when sharing an article. For example, one person might share a post because they think it will make their contacts laugh, while another might share only articles that are helpful or that solve a specific problem.
However, despite the different motivations, neural activity is exactly the same. Therefore, this study serves as a starting point to analyze social thought.
