A (very) Brief History of Virality

Virality. It kind of hits a different nerve now right?

As a virus spread through the world, leaving many of us forced to be locked inside with nothing but the screens of our phones as a connection to the outside world – virality led to, well… virality.

The over-saturation of social media posts, especially in the video sphere, meant that many ‘experts’ in 2018/2019 began to predict some sort of ‘end’ to the viral video. Seemingly, the internet had broken up into niche subcultures with little unification. Enter: COVID19.

In 2020 the fractured internet began to crave unification and mass interaction to find an escape from the four walls of lonely bedrooms across the globe. This led to a reconfiguration of virality, that manifested in many different ways – for example, that awful video of celebrities singing to us; but, also much broader effects like the HUGE acceleration of the TikTok user base.

Virality certainly isn’t anything new. Whilst it is a buzzword to describe videos on social media – the first thing we should do is recognise its looooong history. We can learn a lot from it.

The 19th Century

Ahhh the 19th century. The cardboard box has just been invented, Mary Shelly publishes Frankenstein and Van Gough paints the Starry Night (and cuts off his ear 👂) Wait…, what do you mean TikTok wasn’t around?

In the 19th century, mass amounts of people began to migrate from farmlands and rural areas to the growing cities. Fractured smaller village societies began to combine to create larger communities (much like seen with the impacts of Covid19 on socials) of like-minded ‘city people’. Not only was this movement somewhat viral in itself, but it also created the first set of opportunities to reach a huge amount of people in one go (instead of just within your local village). Art and literature all came more accessible, widely spread and viral.

As this urbanisation rapidly commenced, there was a huge fear of people ‘losing themselves and their identities in the modern city’ (sounds a lot like social again 🤔) – leading to loads of social and scientific theories of imitation, contagion and suggestion. A huge interest peaked in ‘crowd psychology’ (this is still well used in some marketing) – which studied how ‘rational humans’ were turned into reckless automations.

Whilst, not the entire blueprint for virality on social platforms, a reminder that the history of virality is long and complex can lead to out of the box creative thinking – harking back to the good old days of… Thomas Edison? 💡

Chain Letters

Fast forward to the early 20th century in Denver, Colorado. The first known chain letter was sent by an unknown trend-setter who claimed their letter originated from the biggest influencer at the time – The Pope.

This letter was sent around Denver and encouraged the population to send it forward, and donate money. Whilst, obviously, this is some sort of fraud – it is probably one of the earliest examples of some sort of social virality.

This old-ish trend took off and was remediated in many different forms. From scary urban-myth letters (Carry on reading! Or you will die, even if you only looked at the word warning! Once there was a little girl called Clarissa, she was ten years old….) to very serious issues of fraud and scams. Chain letters may have an old origin, but they are a great example of this ‘crowd mentality. A lot of the time, we know Clarissa isn’t going to kill us (we hope) but people sent it forward anyway to be part of a social movement.

This sort of virality has been reconfigured over and over again from those strange emails we all got as a kid to those weird Instagram and TikTok posts about Bloody Mary 🩸. Although, we can also see it in less spooky things like the very recent Instagram trend of sharing a picture of your dog to ‘plant a tree’ (lol) – or even tagging multiple friends in giveaway posts (although its best if your brands dont pretend to be The Pope – or Bloody Mary for that matter).

The Golden Age (of YouTube)

Finally… the good old days. This was the time where there was a new viral video every few days. Meeting up with friends and family irl often prompted conversations anchored around “Have you seen that Old Spice video” or chatting about that kind of weird aggressive panda advert.

Obviously, we can not talk about the Golden Age of Youtube without acknowledging the viral behemoth: Friday. Often described as the worst YouTube video ever made, Rebecca Black’s magnum opus was the second most disliked video in 2011 just missing out on the top spot of Justin Bieber’s Baby. Despite this, Friday was the most-watched video on Youtube that year. What can we learn from Friday? Well, firstly going viral isn’t ALWAYS a good thing – and at this time people launched videos into the viral sphere through ‘hate-watching’. It’s a classic case of being ‘laughed at’ rather than laughing with. But hey, it works?

On the other side of the spectrum (laughing with) there is Charlie Bit My Finger. A video uploaded (originally) purely for the joy of a family – it soon became a force to be reckoned with. It was reported that the Davies-Carr family made over £100,000 in advertising revenue from the video alone. And the latest update? An NFT of the video was auctioned off in May 2021 for $760,999.

What was the difference between these two videos? Rebecca Black’s video was hated due to its cringe overproduction (both sonically and visually). Whereas, videos that were better received, especially in this era, were funny and candid home videos (Think the same vibe as You’ve Been Framed). It seems the more production and human mediation involved – the worse the reaction. It was kind of a tricky place for brands to enter and they had to tread carefully.

(sidenote: Rebecca Black re-released Friday recently)

Trying to get a Slice.

It’s now 2015 – and all across the world viral videos are being shared and remixed. Most importantly, people are pouring buckets of ice-cold water over their heads – raising over $220 MILLION for charity. You couldn’t even log on to Facebook without seeing all your loved ones, friends and enemies soaking themselves for charity.

What made the ALS ice bucket challenge so successful? In a nutshell: Its seamless combination of social media pressure, competitiveness, low barriers to entry (literally just a bucket and a camera) led to more than 2.4 million videos circulating on Facebook.

The challenge also echoed one of the previous viral movements we explored – chain letters. Through a mix of mass interest and individual identification, part of the ALS challenge was to identify and ‘tag’ potential candidates. Much like sending forward the story of Clarrissa the dead girl forward, people felt compelled to extend the virality themselves. Never underestimate the power of a participatory campaign! Giving people the opportunity to remix and remediate a viral campaign leads to reach and creativity.

But the search for virality doesn’t work for everyone – and this next campaign led to the death of over-produced virality. When Kendall Jenner offered a Pepsi can to a police officer to solve the tension at a protest, it went viral for all the wrong reasons. Twitter users expressed distaste for the clear attempt to create an overproduced, fake-‘woke’, and tone-deaf ‘pop culture moment’. As sites like Twitter and Reddit became more active, people became less and less happy with overproduced content – and became happier and happier to voice their opinions.

What started with Rebecca Black, quickly became part of the general public’s hatred for overproduced, clinical and corporate attempts at virality.

Here lies manufactured virality.

Rest in Peace.

TikTok

Unless? What’s this? A new challenger approaches?

TikTok completely re-invigorated the viral video. By taking aspects of the most successful viral campaigns – viral videos on TikTok are often casually produced and candid, invite remixability and remediation from the audience and think quite deeply about crowd psychology; TikTok has become the new breeding ground to head to if you want to try and get viral.

Yeah, it’s still hard work and requires some (Spin) creative geniuses – but there doesn’t seem to be a better time to give it a shot!

But, listen, we aren’t going to give all of our secrets away in one singular blog post. So keep your eyes peeled on our Instagram for the very best TikTok tips. And who knows… maybe there will be some useful stuff posted here soon?

TLDR:

🚀 Make your content remixable.

🧠 Take inspiration from past examples of virality.

🎉 Overproduction is not good! So, watch out!

The social challenge for responsible brands

Social platforms are designed to keep people scrolling. The more they lock in, the more valuable their attention becomes.

But attention isn’t endless. When feeds become overwhelming, users don’t engage as deeply. They disengage, scroll faster and retain less – technically active but mentally elsewhere. And as the quality of attention drops, performance follows.

If your social media strategy relies on addictive mechanics, artificial urgency or relentless posting, you may inflate short-term metrics but long-term impact will suffer.

This creates a strategic tension: how do you maintain performance without contributing to burnout?

What do ‘healthy social habits’ mean for brands?

Healthy social is about earning attention through value rather than volume. It’s about building relationships with your audience that feel intentional, not intrusive.

In practice, healthy social media habits include:

Creating content that justifies the time spent
Posting at the right time instead of flooding feeds
Optimising for depth of engagement over frequency
Delivering faster value per impression
Using social to amplify real-world activity

Social should strengthen communities and support offline connection, not just fuel consumption. A clear community strategy matters here. Healthy social habits are reinforced when brands create spaces for dialogue, not just distribution.

For audiences, healthy habits are rooted in control. Digital detoxes are real. Screen time is down 14% year-over-year.

That is, choosing when to engage rather than being pulled into an endless scroll. This looks like:

Setting time boundaries
Reducing passive consumption
Choosing content that delivers clear value
Seeking out connection rather than comparison
Logging off without FOMO

Used intentionally, social builds connection. Used excessively, it erodes attention.

The Spin perspective: sustainable performance is not a unicorn

You might think reducing posting volume or stepping away from addictive mechanics will hurt performance. Done properly, it strengthens it.

Sustainable performance isn’t about doing less. It’s about doing it better. Adding value.

In practice, this means:

Earning attention fast: You don’t need your audience for 10 minutes. You need them for three seconds, done properly. Stop the scroll with creative that delivers immediate value.
Posting strategically, not relentlessly: More content doesn’t automatically mean more growth. Smarter scheduling, sharper creative and clearer messaging outperform volume for volume’s sake.
Working with platforms intelligently: Test high-impact formats, optimise for intent-led discovery and cut wasted spend. Use the system without feeding the worst parts of it.
Building beyond the feed: Offline events, real-world community building and slower formats, like newsletters or long-form storytelling, create connection without contributing to endless scroll.

At Spin, we focus on quality of attention over quantity of impressions. We know your audience. Know when they’re ready to buy. Where they’re scrolling. And how to cut through the noise.

Targeting younger audiences responsibly

Brands must acknowledge that some of the users engaging with their posts will be young and impressionable.

The conversation around healthy social media habits for teens is growing, and brands targeting Gen Z and Alpha can’t ignore it.

Because that audience isn’t ignoring it. Nearly half of all teens believe socials have a negative effect.

Responsible social means creating content that connects without exploiting anxiety or insecurity. It requires being conscious of the messages and behaviours you reinforce.

If your creative leans heavily on comparison, artificial urgency or aspirational pressure, it doesn’t just drive engagement; it shapes behaviour. Messaging, imagery and ad mechanics all play a role in setting social norms.

Brands that take this seriously build stronger trust over time.

The commercial case for healthier social

Healthier social strategies improve the quality of attention. When audiences aren’t fatigued, they engage intentionally. That improves signal strength, sharpens optimisation and stabilises long-term performance.

Commercially, this means:

More efficient media spend
Stronger signal quality for platform optimisation
Higher-quality engagement, not just higher volume
Improved brand recall and consideration
More resilient long-term ROI

The new social contract

When brands move from volume to value, from urgency to clarity and from consumption to connection, performance becomes more resilient.

The brands that thrive will be the ones that respect attention and make every second count. Not endless scroll. Not constant noise. Just attention earned.

Ready to take a spin?

We build culture-first creative that’s made for discovery and intent, backed by community and platform insights that go deeper than vanity metrics.

‍

¹ https://sqmagazine.co.uk/social-media-screen-time-statistics

² https://unplugwell.com/digital-detox-2025-statistics-trends

³ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/22/teens-social-media-and-mental-health

Blog

Spin’s 2026 Social Predictions

1. Human-made content becomes a quality signal

AI slop is everywhere. In 2026, it will continue to rise. With more AI content flooding socials, originality will become rare and more valuable than ever.

Human-led content will become a marker of trust, true craftsmanship, and creative intent. Audiences will favour brands that communicate with human clarity over corporate polish.

Maria Rubio, Marketing Manager, Spin‍

“2026 is the year we see a massive premium placed on unscalable, messy, human context. While everyone else is trying to automate their output, the smartest brands will double down on the things AI can’t do: opinion, personality, and a distinct point of view. We’re moving from an era of ‘polished perfection' to 'verified reality.’”

‍Harry Morton, Founder, Lower Street

“In 2026, the corporate voice on social media will disappear. Even B2B companies are realising that people aren't interested in polite, scripted language. The more human the brand sounds, the longer people engage.”

‍What this means:
Perfectly polished content is losing its shine. Above all, people want personality and honesty. Imperfection will become a trust cue, proving that a human was involved.

‍

2. Trust in communities overtakes creators

Trust is decentralising. Instead of following influencers, people are following conversations in Reddit threads, Discord servers, and niche Substack comments.

Audiences aren’t looking for a single voice of authority. They want many honest opinions. These spaces are already shaping purchase decisions before users reach your site or socials.

Lucy Allen, Comms Director, Spin

“Reddit’s raw, human conversations are becoming the place people trust for real answers. From skincare and parenting to sport and money, users want opinions from people like them - not algorithms.”

‍Vaibhav Kakkar, CEO, Digital Web Solutions

“Communities will evolve into trusted spaces where people share knowledge and support one another. Members will value honest conversations that feel real and personal. Their trust will rest more on shared experiences than on traditional influencer voices.”

‍What this means:

‍Brands need to show up where conversations are already happening, not force their way in. Community contribution will beat creator partnerships for trust.

‍

3. Social content restructures around search intent

Social behaviour is shifting away from passive scrolling towards active searching. This changes everything about how videos are edited, text is structured, and value is framed.

The ones winning will make content that signals relevance within seconds, answers questions fast, and aligns with search intent.

Adam Holdsworth, Senior Video Editor, Spin

“With TikTok now the go-to search engine for Gen Z and Alpha, the goal isn't necessarily interruption anymore. It's information.

“The way we edit needs to shift - from passive scrolling to active intent. Because if your video doesn't immediately signal it answers someone's search query, the algorithm won't just scroll past it. It'll bury it.”

What this means:
Your creative needs to signal value immediately. Structure content like mini-articles, with front-loaded answers in the first three seconds, not entertainment clips.

‍

4. Creator power decentralises

Influence belongs to those with the most credibility, not followers. Audiences trust those who feel closest to the product, whether that’s employees, superfans or micro-experts.

UGC shouldn’t be an afterthought. It’s a strategic tool. In 2026, UGC should be incorporated into your media strategy to tell your brand story.

Julian Thomas, Senior Content Creator, Spin

“Content creation is becoming a universal job requirement. Moving beyond occasional TikTok cameos, employees across all departments will become formal brand representatives on platforms like LinkedIn and through other media. SheerLuxe is a great example of this, turning an entire workforce into a recognisable media personality.”

Himanshu Agarwal, Co-Founder, Zenius, which provides social media VAs.

“Social media marketing will be less about discovery and more about brand reliability and social proof. So, experts and micro-influencers could become more common than generic influencers. Their responsibility will shift from reviewing products to promoting transparency and building customer trust for the brand.”

Janelle Warner, Co-director, Born Social

“Brands will start paying their most engaged followers. This will go beyond typical influencer marketing and become a standard practice. Low organic reach and ad fatigue are the main issues. Consumers put more stock in suggestions made by actual people than in professionally produced ads.”

What this means:
Your most valuable creators already exist inside and around your brand. Give them the platform and freedom to create with credibility.

‍

5. Social becomes multi-sensory storytelling

Short video isn’t going anywhere, but formats are diversifying fast. Audiences want smoother, more relaxed learning experiences, not single-format posts. In 2026, platforms will reward multi-format journeys where audio, video, text, and interactive elements work together.

Sahil Kakkar, CEO / Founder, RankWatch

“Social media in 2026 will grow into a multi-sensory space where audio, video and interactive elements work together. Creators will design content that feels easy to follow and supports learning in a more relaxed manner. Audiences will look for smoother shifts between watching, asking and purchasing as they move through online experiences.”

What this means:
Posts will stop being ‘posts’. Carousels and other static formats will evolve into richer mixed-media formats. Brands need stories that feel fluid, responsive, and immersive.

‍

6. AI becomes invisible infrastructure

This year, AI won’t just impact the content audiences see, but the systems that create, adapt and personalise it behind the scenes.

From real-time creative adaptation to AI-assisted planning, social teams will rely on AI as the engine that accelerates decisions and optimises output.

Pratik Singh Raguwanshi, Team Leader Digital Experience, CISIN

“In 2026, the biggest shift will be real-time creative adaptation. Social platforms will let brands auto-generate multiple versions of a post and adapt them live based on how different micro-audiences respond. Instead of A/B testing after the fact, the content will reshape itself as performance data comes in.”

Colton De Vos, Marketing Specialist, Resolute Technology Solutions, a Managed Service Provider in Winnipeg.

“Proactive brand reputation management will become non-negotiable for businesses on social media. Companies that rely on reactive approaches will struggle as consumers increasingly make decisions based on real-time reviews, mentions, and sentiment across platforms.”

What this means:
AI will underpin social strategy. Not necessarily creating content but orchestrating it intelligently at speed.

‍

What does this mean for your 2026 strategy?

2026 rewards relevance over reach, authenticity over perfection, and responsiveness over rigidity.

You should:

Build content that answers questions, not just grabs attention
Design creative for intent, not just impressions
Prioritise community engagement and shared spaces
Enable employees and superfans to tell your brand story
Use AI to speed decisions, not replace your voice

‍

How Spin can help

We build culture-first creative that’s made for discovery and intent, backed by community and platform insights that go deeper than vanity metrics.

If 2026 is the year you want social to actually perform, let’s talk.

Blog

The Relevance Stack

Social relevance isn't about posting more. (Though everyone seems to think it is.)

It's about building real bonds with your audience. The kind of connections that earn attention, drive brand love, and get people to engage and act.

The Relevance Stack is how we measure and build that relevance. It's three parts that work together to give you a clear picture of where you stand, what's working, and how to create content that truly makes an impact for your brand.

Let's break it down.

The R-Score

Think of this as your social report card. One number that shows exactly where your brand stands and where it needs to go next.

This isn't some vanity metric. It's a proper measurement that combines the stuff that actually matters:

Social channel data: Your follower growth, engagement rates, all the performance basics ‍
AI content scoring: How good your content really is (and whether your audience cares)

Audience relevance surveys: The real test - what your ideal customers think

It's like a fitness tracker for your brand. Shows you your current health, tracks progress over time, and tells you exactly where to push harder. Think a WHOOP but for brands.

Relevance Hub

Let's be honest: no one wants to engage with brands that just don't get it or feel tone-deaf.

Understanding your audience properly is everything. The Relevance Hub is your weekly brief on what actually matters right now:

The trends that count (not just the ones everyone's talking about)
Global culture tracking
Cross-sector industry moves
Social listening analysis that goes deeper than keyword mentions
Platform updates that will actually affect your strategy

If the R-Score is your fitness tracker, the Relevance Hub is your personal trainer: keeping you sharp on the latest moves each week.

Creative Relevance Framework

Shouting into the void with content nobody cares about? Definitely not a strategy.

The Creative Relevance Framework organizes your content into three pillars, combining their efforts into real results:

Showcasing the brand: Brand-led messaging, but made for social (not adapted for it)
Joining existing conversations: Meeting your audience where they already are, through trends, moments, and cultural references that make sense specifically to them
Making new moments: Creating original content that sparks fresh conversations and gets people talking

These three pillars help brands deliver content that feels authentic, timely, and impactful. To finish the fitness analogy: this is your workout plan, making sure every rep you do really counts for the broader goal.

Why The Relevance Stack Matters

Here's the truth: Relevance drives attention. Attention builds trust. Trust fuels growth.

The Relevance Stack is your three-part plan to nail all of that:

A clear benchmark of where you stand right now
Real-time insights into what your audience genuinely cares about
A strategic framework for content that resonates instead of just existing

What this will give you is a social presence that stops people from scrolling, building genuine attachment to the brand, and delivering business results you can point to directly.

Ready to Get Relevant?

We've built the tools. We'd love to help your brand build something that matters to your audience and to you.

Want to see how relevant your brand really is? Let's talk.

See all