Top 12 Most Influential Sites In the Viral Memesphere
One of the first things new clients almost always ask me is, “How Do We Go Viral?”
To truly answer that question (beyond my comprehensive Big Deck on the subject), it’s very important to note which websites must feature your content for it to have a good chance of achieving legitimate virality. Below is my list of the 12 most influential sites in the viral memesphere (‘social-sharing’ sites like Digg/Reddit/StumbleUpon not included), based on ABH.biz’s proprietary system of referral-calculations and cross-linking algorithms.
Getting featured on any of these sites is crucial to your meme, but if you manage to get your content on ALL of them, send me a postcard, because you just went effing viral.
12. Fimoculous — Fellow social media strategenius Rex Sorgatz’s digest of interesting and relevant links, along with his expert stratnalysis, is an essential read for all web content aficionados. The site doesn’t have tons of readers, but it has the right readers (though Rex hasn’t been posting as much lately, so see also: Kottke and Waxy).
11. Urlesque — One of the few bright spots in the AOL juggernaut’s corporate Internet-winning strat, Urlesque has assembled a crack team of bright young memesters who are usually among the first viranalysts to spot a new net trend before it reaches full lift-off. Case in point.
10. The Awl — Founded by grizzled NYC media vets Alex Balk, Choire Sicha and David Cho, The Awl — along with their new site SplitSider, for whom I also consult — provides a (sometimes wordy) daily record of the media/blogger/Tumblr elite’s “Conversation”, as it happens in realtime. This is the dashboard for people who matter.
9. The Daily What — The work of a single tireless young pop culture fanatic who puts together an expertly-curated feed of the funniest, most clever viral videos/photoshops/infographics content in the Tumblrverse, The DW is truly the Daily What’s Up, meme-wise. The worst thing about this site is resisting the temptation to just lazily press “reblog” every time you read a post.
8. Vulture — Daily pop culture news, commentary, links and analysis from New York Magazine, which I think we can all agree is The Greatest Magazine In the History of Printed Media™. Getting a link here can add gravity and substance to your meme, but getting mentioned in their indispensable Approval Matrix is one of the most precious Holy Grails in your quest for virality.
7. BoingBoing — The venerable tech/web culture outpost is crucial to your meme’s breaking through to the coveted “hardcore net nerd” demographic (which, it may surprise you to discover, makes up the vast majority of The Whole Internet™). They’re notoriously picky about what they pick up, so if your content doesn’t somehow involve DIY life-hacking projects or absurdist commentary on esoteric social issues, it may be a tough sell.
6. HIPSTER RUNOFF — The mysterious hermetic meme-master known only as CRLS has managed to turn his mp3/alt-lifestyle “blog worth blogging about” into a category-leading cultural touchstone that literally invented its own language (which u should def try 2 ‘imitate’ if ur lucky enough to have an ‘IM convo’ with Crls), and stays on the cutting edge of the relevant memesphere by driving a ton of hits, while also being kind of scary and confusing (especially in the comments). HRO is an indie-treasure and a net-legend, at least if you Get It™.
5. Videogum — The pop culture/video-centric spinoff of legendary music blog Stereogum, this is definitely the Internet’s best source of viral videos. The real secret sauce is the fact that the site’s cult-like leader is a pioneering blog genius named Gabriel Delahaye, who is basically the L. Ron Humor of LOLentology. If your vid doesn’t get on Videogum, you probably need to go back and check your strat, because you’re not going viral.
4. Gawker — What can be said about Gawker that hasn’t already been said? It’s the most important site on The Whole Internet™. Its stats and unique metrics are skyrocketing right now, as you read this. In fact, you’re probably not even reading this, because you’re reading Gawker like everyone else who wants to matter.
3. The Huffington Post — I know what you’re thinking, but this isn’t your outraged liberal parents’ HuffingtonPost. The leading “Internet Newspaper” has aggressively expanded their brand, and now the vast majority of their daily content isn’t just the “Bush Lied, Oil Died” Ed Begley Jr. screeds you’ve come to expect — now they’re rolling deep with all the latest viral videos, photoshop FAILs, Top 10 lists, and celeb bikini bod galleries you could ever want. If you can get your content on the HuffPo, you better brace your servers, because you’re about to get hit with a FIREHOSE.
2. Mashable — The leading social media/Internet/tech blog, founded and operated by Pete Cashmore, who is beautiful. Mashable is read daily by everyone from industry insiders to leading strat architects to people in your office who just desperately want to sound like they know what they’re talking about. They’re usually not early-discoverers, so if your meme lands on Mashable, it’s basically a certificate that says, “Yep, I went viral.”
1. BuzzFeed — This site has grown from an aggregation engine into the Epicenter of Internet Virality. They’ve got viral formulas, badges, UGC content tools, tags, modules, strategic partnerships, a viral leaderboard — basically their strat is fucking ridiculous, and they are the gate-keepers to all of our virality. Get familiar.
