Skip To Content
    This post has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed's editorial staff. BuzzFeed Community is a place where anyone can create a post or quiz. Try making your own!

    The Top 10 Most Viral Posts Of August, 2011

    Ever wondered about the secrets behind our most viral posts? Take a look at the top 10 posts with the highest viral lift for the last month, and explanations from some of their creators!

    10.

    View this video on YouTube

    violas94

    16 Things You Should Never Microwave

    BuzzFeed Intern Stephanie Viola's list of videos of things that react in interesting ways to microwave radiation begins with a promise of danger and the possibility of fireworks.

    I actually thought of doing this post after my friend decided that it made sense to cook an egg in the microwave (think sunny-side up style). It exploded and made this huge mess, which was actually kind of surprising. A couple of days after, some picture was circulating of what happens when you microwave ivory soap and I decided to turn it into a post. In making the post... I wanted the end result of whatever was being microwaved in said videos to be surprising enough to want to share. I think one of the main reasons why the post did so well was the fact that people like to see videos of things they've always wanted to do or were curious about doing but were too dangerous and/or costly to do themselves. The emotional/social appeal can be found in the fact that microwaving random stuff is simple and accessible but the end result can be so destructive and interesting.

    9.

    8.

    A friend of mine told me that crispy m&m's were no more. [It] blew my mind. I wanted to see what other foods were lost to history.I wanted to appeal to people in three ways: 1. make them nostalgic 2. make them feel old 3. make them feel hungry. In addition to that, it's pretty safe to say that the vast majority of Internet folk remember those foods. Another thing is that [when] people... see the foods (which were all processed crap snack foods) generally they remember some good times. Finally, the whole "never eat again thing" might surprise some people with foods they didn't know you couldn't get anymore. Everyone loves remembering, everyone loves food, everyone loves "TIL you can't...."

    7.

    6.

    Nostalgia posts that have done incredibly well on Stumbleupon... I decided to go back to an old Myspace bulletin that had been floating around since 2006. It was a chain letter of things you have to remember in order to consider yourself a true ‘90s kid. I wanted to replicate some of the submissions from the chain letter (since hundreds of people had contributed) and at the same time include some original ideas. Some factors I hoped would give this post its appeal were the format. I used an easy to share image macro that I created using Quickmeme... In a sense, I felt that this post was also a quiz of sorts. Something someone would want to share with their friends to challenge them to see how many things they actually remembered from the ‘90s.

    5.

    I was originally going to do a list of how people look when they conquer Mount Everest which is arguably one of the hardest tasks someone can accomplish. But the idea of posting pictures of the dead bodies on Mount Everest as it illicited more gut emotion. I think the part of the post that struck people the most was the story about the climbers having to leave the dying woman. Learning that Everest is a bit of a Wild Wild West was interesting to people. People love TIL type posts, people as I said are obsessed with death, and this was all easy to digest because it was mostly pictures. I kind of consider this one of my lowest moments at BuzzFeed as it just went viral in a sort of snuff film sort of way. Most people want to see snuff material because it's so weird and it interests them but they feel sick doing it... I kind of consider this one of my lowest moments at BuzzFeed as it just went viral in a sort of snuff film sort of way. Too many posts like this and the ship will sink but every once in awhile I guess it's good to cash in on trust.

    4.

    A list post should either do 2 things: teach you something you didn't know, or leave you in awe. If you combine the two, even better. I think some of my biggest posts did just that

    3.

    Be conscious of the overall mood/feeling/emotions the internet community is feeling about a certain news topic. For the earthquake, I saw people were saying how they barely felt the quake/it was a fluke/people were overreacting. So, I compiled a list of pics of the "damage." So I guess, just be aware of how the internet feels about a topic and play off of it.

    2.

    1.

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com / Via buzzfeed.com

    British Rap At Its Best (NSFW Language)

    Never underestimate the appeal of underground hip hop. Devoid of the materialistic, money-oriented lyrical themes that are all-too-present in the most popular, most commercial rap, Scroobius Pip's music provides a strong alternative to what radio and TV have to offer.

    Also, he cuts his own hair in the video, so that's kind of neat.