WordPress.com Forums » Topic: Has anyone had a post go viral?

plasticdaffodils on "Has anyone had a post go viral?"

plasticdaffodils — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:54:42 +0000

I had a post go viral that wasn't Freshly Pressed - see my Will You Be Raptured Flowchart (http://peasandcougars.com/2011/05/19/will-you-be-raptured-flowchart/). It has a total of 278,273 on my blog , but it's been cross-posted so many places that it's actually close to million (from my estimation from the sites that post their hits to a page). If people had to actually go to my site to read the flowchart, I would have gotten more, but oh well. I also have one other post that has gone somewhat viral, it has gotten 86,030 hits. Those numbers are small for a lot of big blogs though.

The thing about a post going viral though is only a very small percentage of those readers actually stay to come back to your blog. Yes, it feels nice and it'd be fun to go viral again (even though you get a lot of people who hate you with the people who love you), but that's what blogging is all about.

raincoaster on "Has anyone had a post go viral?"

raincoaster — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:21:48 +0000

Yes, also see the thread immediately below yours. http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/what-the-heck-is-reddit-and-what-have-they-done-to-my-stats?replies=14

If you're not used to it, it looks like you've been attacked by Anonymous or something. The biggest viral hits I ever heard of at WP.com were Disembedded's post on vanished Harlem going to 88,000 hits in one day and this post (now deleted) which got something like 100 million hits in two days http://nerdyapple.com/2010/11/02/my-son-is-gay/

That last one brings up a good point: are you sure you're ready for it? See more on that topic, and that specific example, here: http://raincoastermedia.com/2011/05/14/courting-controversy-in-comic-form/

timethief on "Has anyone had a post go viral?"

timethief — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:59:27 +0000

I also have two posts one on each blog go viral this year and thought the stats were huge what does that amount to other than bragging rights and a huge bounce rate? I got 5 subscribers who have never commented - big deal. We cannot monetize our blogs as not blogger initiated advertising is allowed but WordPress.com may benefit from the inflow of traffic as it may include ad clickers.

timethief on "Has anyone had a post go viral?"

timethief — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:57:04 +0000

Ask raincoaster as her answer will be "yes".

robrubin on "Has anyone had a post go viral?"

robrubin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:09:47 +0000

I am wondering if anyone has had a post on here go really viral..not including Freshly Pressed posts, but ones where they get retweeted or shared thousands of time over.