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A friend in a group chat broke down why certain disaster videos go viral and some don't

Was talking with a buddy who works in news and he said the algorithm pushes content that makes people feel scared but also in control at the same time. Like a video of a flood where people know how to evacuate gets more shares than one where everyone is just helpless. Never thought about that combo before. Has anyone else noticed patterns in what kind of crisis content blows up?
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3 Comments
paul_ramirez
It's like when people post videos of earthquakes and everyone in the comments is measuring the damage.
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young.michael
Stopped measuring and started looking for warning signs instead. Found a couple of videos that showed cracks forming in a certain pattern before the big shake. Actually helped me spot a small one in my own walls before it got worse, felt useful for once.
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phoenixk64
phoenixk6414d ago
Oh man, @paul_ramirez, that's exactly the kind of thing my buddy was getting at. I read this study once that said people share disaster videos more when there's a clear takeaway like "this is how you spot the danger" instead of just chaos. It makes sense though, nobody wants to doomscroll without feeling like they learned something useful.
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