What Makes Content Go Viral: The Science Behind The Algorithm

In this edition of Founder FAQ, Petra Smith, founder and Managing Director of the UK-based marketing consultancy Squirrels&Bears, answers: “How can I make my content go viral on social media?”

You can’t guarantee social media post virality—but you can understand and apply the psychological principles that drive it, and deconstruct the anatomy of viral content. While luck and algorithms play a part, virality is often the result of content that, whether by design or intuition, executes a series of unseen psychological moves. It speaks not just to the algorithm, but directly to the wiring of the human brain. Because the real drivers of virality are often subconscious.

It starts with disruption. Our brains are hardwired for patterns. We expect things to behave in predictable ways. Virality often begins when these expectations are broken. This is what researchers call a benign violation—the situation violates our expectations, but it does it in a safe, non-threatening context. It triggers a surge of dopamine in the brain, forcing us to pay attention, move past passive scrolling, making the content more memorable and far more shareable.

Then, we join the crowd. As more people join in, it creates a compelling feedback loop— participation triggers more participation. We are social creatures, wired to look to others for cues on how to behave. Seeing others engage makes the trend feel like an essential cultural event.

It validates the activity, and it lowers the social risk for others to join.

And that’s when it gets emotional. Ultimately, we don’t just share information. We share emotions. And social media algorithms are designed to identify and amplify them. Neuroscience suggests that observing these emotions in others can activate our own mirror neurons, making us feel the same way and compelling us to pass it on.

Decoding The Subconscious Share

To make sense of the overwhelming amount of information we face daily, our brains rely on mental shortcuts known as cognitive biases. Viral content is so effective, because it’s engineered to push these specific psychological buttons:

Negativity Bias From an evolutionary perspective, it was far more important to notice a potential threat than a pleasant sight. This has left us with a hardwired tendency to pay more attention to, and give more weight to, negative information. On social media, this is why content related to negativity or fear spreads so rapidly. It triggers a primal alert system, demanding our attention and compelling us to warn our social network by sharing.

Confirmation Bias We all have a deep-seated need to be right. Confirmation bias is our tendency to seek out, interpret, and share information that confirms our existing beliefs. When we find a post that validates our views, it provides a satisfying hit of dopamine. Sharing becomes an act of self-affirmation. It’s a way of saying, “See? I was right.” And this reinforces our own identity and beliefs.

Availability Bias When a particular idea, or a perspective goes viral, it suddenly appears everywhere. This constant exposure makes the content, and the ideas within it, seem far more important, or true than they might be. We begin to believe everyone is talking about this and this perceived pervasiveness then makes us engage, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

Bandwagon Effect We often believe things because many other people do or believe the same. On social media, the visible metrics of virality such as the number of likes or shares serve as social proof. As a result, our need for social conformity and fear of missing out (FOMO) kick in, urging us to participate in the collective action.

Petra Smith, founder and Managing Director of the UK-based marketing consultancy Squirrels&Bears. Courtesy of Squirrels&Bears.

When Marketing Psychology Meets The Algorithm

Understanding virality from an algorithmic perspective means moving beyond the “why we share,” to “how a social media platform decides what to show.”

Every social media platform operates on an attention economy. Their business model relies on users spending as much time as possible on the platform, consuming content, and seeing ads. Therefore, algorithms are engineered to show you what you’re most likely to engage with, prioritize content that generates reactions, and promote interactions that build community and loyalty.

Put simply, virality is a direct byproduct of a post successfully triggering core reactions and the algorithm’s way of saying: “This content is exceptionally good at keeping people on our platform.”

In the early days of social media, posts appeared in a simple chronological order. Today, with billions of pieces of content being created daily, algorithms sift through the noise to serve you what they believe you’ll find most engaging.

The Anatomy Of Social Media Algorithms

While the exact formula for each platform’s algorithm varies, they generally operate on a similar set of principles. Think of it as a constant feedback loop where your actions teach the algorithm what you want to see more of. The key elements include:

Your Interactions The content you like, share, comment on, and save sends a strong signal to the algorithm about your interests.

Your Relationships The accounts you interact with most frequently, whether they’re friends, family, or creators, will have their content prioritized in your feed.

Relevance Algorithms analyze the content itself, looking at keywords, and even the objects in images and videos to determine the subject matter.

Content Type If you tend to watch a lot of videos, you’ll be shown more videos. If you’re an avid photo-scroller, imagebased posts will dominate your feed.

The algorithm itself is emotionally agnostic. It cannot feel joy, anger, or surprise. What it is designed to do, however, is measure the digital footprints these emotions leave behind. This is the critical connection where psychology fuels for the algorithm.

Content engineered to trigger a strong cognitive bias captures a person’s attention, and what’s more, it compels an action. That action, whether a share, a comment, or even just a long pause in scrolling, is a quantifiable signal.

A sudden spike in these engagement signals acts as a trigger for the algorithm. It interprets this rapid interaction as a sign of highly compelling content, and to fulfil its core objective of maximizing user time on the platform, it immediately accelerates the post’s distribution to a much broader audience.

Virality is not an unpredictable accident. It is a combination of human psychology and algorithmic design. The content that achieves exponential reach does so because it successfully activates emotional responses, and these human reactions produce the exact engagement signals (the shares, comments, and viewing time) that algorithms are engineered to identify and amplify.

The most effective strategy, then, is not to chase short-term trends, but to deliberately create content that leverages these core psychological drivers. By understanding the subconscious mechanics of why people share, you provide the precise conditions for the algorithm to fulfill its primary function: widespread distribution.

This article first appeared in the October 2025 issue of Inc. Arabia. To read the full issue online, click here.