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How Empathy Breeds Viral Phenomena

Want people to share your content? Forget about image macros, lolspeak, and so-called "influentials." Create content that people will relate to.

In attempting to create content that will go viral, many try hard to incorporate popular Internet memes hoping that the right catch phrase, reference, or format will be the magic bullet. Most often, it's not about the form that the meme takes, but the relatable common experiences that it conveys.

Empathy - the ability to relate to another's feelings and emotions - has been the subject of my viral research in recent weeks. I presented my findings internally. To my delight, Jonah Peretti and Jon Steinberg asked that I share my findings on the site with all of you.

Enjoy.