Going viral

I don’t know exactly how social media works. However, I have discovered that there is a form of technology-mediated energy that manifests itself as a post “going viral.” I expect that this is a feature (likely intended) of the ubiquitous “Facebook algorithm.”

I recently came across a post by my friend Leslie Flood Hershberger that included Zen priest and actor Peter Coyote’s provocative suggestions for how to approach a protest, starting off with —

“I’m watching the Los Angeles reaction to ICE raids with trepidation and regret.

Three years ago I taught a class at Harvard on the “theater of protest”— designed to help people understand why so many protests turn out to be Republican campaign videos working directly against the interests of the original protest.

A protest is an invitation to a better world.

It’s a ceremony.

No one accepts a ceremonial invitation when they’re being screamed at.

More important you have to know who the real audience of the protest is.

The audience is NEVER the police, the politicians, the Board of supervisors, Congress,etc.

The audience is always the American people, who are trying to decide who they can trust; who will not embarrass them.

If you win them, you win power at the box office and power to make positive change.

Everything else is a waste.”

This powerful message arrived at just the right moment (in my mind), so I posted it. I did not necessarily agree completely with his message, but felt it needed to be heard.

For context, I typically get a couple of hundred reactions on a “good” post. This one received over five thousand reactions, but more significantly, almost 65 thousand shares. The post has gone viral. I received a couple thousand follower requests within 24 hours of the post appearing. While I don’t quite understand this phenomenon, I find it fascinating. What catches one’s attention to the extent that one hits the share button?