This Is How It Feels to Go Viral on Twitter
As the likes from a tweet passed 100K, I received love and hate — but mostly felt raw terror
Imagine you’re at a party, chatting with people. Most you met there, while a few you met before you arrived. You make a comment. People nod enthusiastically, maybe laugh. Some reply. Then the walls surrounding the party crack and tumble away, revealing thousands, even millions of people. You look down and realize you’re wearing a mic. They all heard what you said.
Buckle up. You’ve gone viral.
I’ve had two tweets go — and this is the only way I can describe it — horribly viral. The first was in November 2017, after the Sutherland Springs shooting. I was extremely upset by the news, furious that politicians with the power to implement gun control laws just “sent thoughts and prayers,” using the language of empathy to look noble while doing nothing. So I tweeted to my roughly 2,500 followers:
It would be liked 114,000 times and retweeted 46,000 times as of early April.
