Articles on the Internet can go viral even though the content and topic are the same. Research have revealed that the brain process is involved why some articles go viral.

Why does one article go viral on social media even though it is similar to another article posted on a different social media site? A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) has an answer to this question; the brain process has something to do with it.

The authors of the first published paper surveyed the brain responses of 80 participants while reading the titles of a health-related article from New York Times. The brain activity's specific patterns for response is measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging, a neuroimaging procedure commonly known as fMRI. The subject of the articles rated respectively to identify which is likely to go viral by reading and sharing the content.

The senior author of the study, Emily Falk, said that people tend to share and read the articles which relates to their experiences. However, the research study also shows that articles go viral not because of self-related thoughts and reasons. The participants also estimated what other people would think about the articles that they read and share on social media.

The second study will be published next week. It shows the brain signals of the participants are all the same, they can actually predict if an article can go viral among the readers of New York Times around the world. In addition, it does not make any difference that the participants came from different demographic. The brain process monitored by the researchers was equally same from those who read the article worldwide.