How the logic of viralization redefined the Creator Economy

The first information dealt with something local, but with potential for global scale. The first notifications quickly came. It was already known that the origin was Chinese, but no one knew for sure the proportion that it would gain, nor the speed with which it would spread.

The spread was almost instantaneous. Recurrent exposure increased the probability of reproduction and, within a few days, growth stopped being linear and became exponential.

Experts were trying to understand the speed of this transmission. The entire world had already been impacted. But that’s not the virus story you’re thinking.

And yes, about a video from a Chinese streamer called Zheng Xiang Xiangwhich went viral globally in 2024 due to an almost hypnotic and ultra-fast method of selling products in lives on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

According to a report from G1, she had earned around R$51.6 million in a series of lives during a Chinese holiday.

As absurd as this analogy may seem, there is an etymological justification that connects the idea of ​​a virus to that of a viral: this concept, typically the result of the internet, arises precisely from the logic of propagation similar to that of a virus, something that spreads quickly from person to person.

The term gained strength in the 1990s, before social networks even existed as we know them today.

Nowadays, “going viral” may have less to do with accumulate views and more with joining the culturefor better or worse, influence behavior and shape language.

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The case of Zheng Xiang Xiang is a faithful portrait of a time when livestreams from Chinese sellers practically redefined global e-commerceinfluencing an entire chain of creator economy and creators, in which affiliate marketing, social commerce and TikTok Shop have emerged as some of the great exponents of this momentum.

Whether this is a perennial phenomenon, we will know in five years. But there are other viral songs that came from the other side of the world and that, even though they have disappeared from the map, still resonate in our heads and, it seems, will last generations.

It is the case that Gangnam Style (I know you remember), perhaps the first global mega-viral of the YouTube era. The video broke the logic of the language barrier and was the first on the platform to exceed 1 billion views.

But we don’t need to go that far when it comes to virality, and we know that this phenomenon tends to have its own characteristics here. Brazilian virals almost always mix humor, simplicity and improvisation.

The Brazilian internet has a rare ability: transform cultural accidents into collective affective memory. In a few countries, a “Receive” becomes a greeting, “How inelegant” becomes a universal reaction and the expression “Shocked” goes beyond its original meaning.

Are we talking about memes that went viral or viral memes that became memes?

At the end of the day, the concepts always seem to have gone hand in hand. Long before “meme” meant a funny image on the internet, the biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term in his book The Selfish Gene.from 1976, to explain how ideas, behaviors and symbols replicate culturally in a similar way to genes.

Logic is especially powerful for understanding creator economy contemporary: ideas constantly compete for attentionand those that are easier to understand, reproduce and share tend to survive and spread.

But is there a method for making a viral product?

In the book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, the American Jonah Berger, globally recognized as one of the greatest experts in consumer behavior, viral marketing and influence, argues that viral content follows predictable patternsand not just “luck” or algorithm.

According to Berger, content spreads at scale when it combines emotion, social identification, practical utility and easy-to-share narratives. Receive!

But, behind the scientific and behavioral aspect, there is another side that is a little more obscure and worrying: the human and mental aspect. Going viral was already a benefit, on some level. But also a risk. Never a choice.

Now, however, it seems that we are heading towards a scenario in which Going viral has become a necessity, almost like socio-digital validation. Brands need to go viral. Creators need to go viral. Everything needs to go viral.

And the logic of this incessant search means that banal events are no longer just experienced, they start to be potentially performed.

The rise of TikTok in the post-pandemic scenario boosted not only the amount of dopamine circulating in societybut it also ended up democratizing the possibility, expectation and, why not, pressure to go viral.

The chronological feed was replaced by the “algorithmized” feed, driven by content rather than connections, and the Chinese platform became the most faithful translation of this new model.

According to market surveys, such as DataReportal, the Brazil already exceeds 130 million TikTok users and occupies the platform’s third largest market in the world. On average, Brazilians watch around 90 videos per day on the app.

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And last but not least, according to a report from TikTok in partnership with Luminate, 84% of the songs that entered the Billboard Global 200 in 2024 went viral first on the platform.

No wonder, when we look at this data, we understand why we live in a chronic state of alert, within a system that rewards urgency, conflict and tension. Dynamics that translate into rage, clickbait, absurd headlines and content produced with massive distribution in mind. At scale. Viral.

A collective impulse to participate, give your opinion and capitalize on (and above?) everything. There is stimulation, there is anxiety.

But, when we remove the negative shadow that hangs over this discussion, it becomes easy to understand that the same speed and merciless pressure that spread anxiety, and sometimes even misinformation, can also spread collective consciousness.

Going viral is, above all, an amplifier. What it spreads depends on the values, incentives and emotions we collectively choose to replicate. And here it is worth mentioning movements such as Black Lives Matter e Me Toodriven globally by videos, hashtags and records shared on social mediadenouncing excesses, mobilizing protests and putting pressure on institutions.

In the end, perhaps the most important discussion is not about how to go viral, but rather about how to remain relevant in the midst of an increasingly intense, fast-paced and exhausting competition for attention.

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The algorithm and platforms can even deliver visibility and, in some cases, instant famethe result of a meme, a meticulously manufactured video or an unlikely viral event.

But true cultural relevance, one that crosses trends, platforms and generations, still depends on something deeply human: the ability to move, create identification and build genuine connections with people.