How To Go Viral On Reddit or The Ironic Complaint

The last day of 2014 was WILD. I blogged a post complaining about my year-end stats. They were identical to 2013’s. By 8:00 AM, I had 200 views. I thought the title, “I Predict More Stories About Boobs in 2015,” reeled them in. Nope. Someone shared an old post on Reddit and it went viral!

Singing Happy Birthday Could Be Risky Business – $10,000 Worth, blew up. Why? That post is two years old.

I scrolled down to referrers and Reddit was at the top of the list. Reddit? I’ve never gotten a view from Reddit. When I refreshed my blog, I had over 1000 views! I freaked out and updated the post inviting new readers to my “Home” page.

From there it went to 5000 views an hour for about seven hours and then it tapered off.

You probably can’t see the computer screen with all your eye rolling. “Good for you Susie. Who freakin’ cares.”

Before you click away, read on… You want to go viral, right?

What goes up must come down. I knew the views wouldn’t last.

There are up and down arrow buttons next to the Reddit post. It becomes popular when readers click the “up” button. After the post makes it to the “Front” page, readers who already “read it” hit the “down” button. This makes room for new content. Pretty clever, right?

Do you see how Tsukamori rewrote the title to get people interested?

By midnight, I had almost doubled my entire year’s views. At 11:59 they were 47,232 for one day! Instead of the 49,000 I had complained about, my year totaled 96,504. Ironic or what? There were another 4,800 on January 1st.

The party is over and I’m back to my average views per hour.

You know, I’m all about over-sharing. This is how to go viral in 2015!

1. Create a Reddit account.

2. Add a Reddit share button alongside Facebook and Twitter.

3. Once in a while, write a post that is controversial and informative or funny. While researching the history of birthdays, I found the info about Time-Warner owning the rights to the song.

4. Someone surfing the web may find your post interesting enough to throw into the Reddit vortex, or better yet, a blogging friend could share it. Your title and first 55 words are critical to search engines.

5. I believe in Karma. The more you share, the more likely others will share your posts. The next time you learn something or crack up laughing at a funny blog post, share it on Reddit. There are many categories to choose from.

Note: In the Today I Learned category, the post has to be at least two months old.

Bloggers are blocked for spamming their own posts on that site. I know since I’ve attempted to spam my blog in every Reddit category!

You may be thinking, “I shouldn’t care about stats.” I posted my year in review on Facebook and Gabby Abby said:

I care about numbers. If I didn’t, I’d write in a private journal. Even though most of the views yesterday were hits, readers were introduced to my name and my blog. All exposure is good in the world of publishing.

Tsukamori shared my post on Reddit and on his blog, Awesome Facts. We can take a lesson from him. Why stop at Twitter and Facebook?

Life is so ironic. I’m done complaining. You never know what’s in your future. Maybe this will be your year to go viral!

Happy New Year, Wild Riders!

Have you ever shared a post on Reddit?