I'm a communications exec and a former editor at The Atlantic and foreign correspondent. Subscribe for lessons from my 15 years in media and PR
What happens when Elon Musk likes your tweet
|
Hello and welcome. I'm glad you're here. Let's talk about that: why you're here. You're probably here because you came across a tweet I wrote this week that went viral. This was the tweet:
As of this writing, it has 4.6 million views, 35,290 likes and 8,480 retweets. How did that happen? Simple. There were two reasons: 1. Jack.And 2. Elon. Those two likes, one by the founder of Twitter and one by the owner of Twitter, instantly made my tweet explode. Within 24 hours, that sentence—31 words long—was seen by more people in more places than anything I'd done before. In fact, it was probably seen more than everything I wrote in 10 years as a writer, editor, and foreign correspondent. That's how it happened. But why that tweet? The 6 Elements of a Viral TweetWhile surprising, this success wasn't random. The tweet does some important things right:
In the end it was a great piece of content, packaged in an intriguing way, that spoke to the a widespread interest of people on the platform. Where did I find it? Next week, maybe I'll dig into more of the creative process. In the meantime, enjoy the full interview. Until then, Ben |
|
Benjamin Carlson
I'm a communications exec and a former editor at The Atlantic and foreign correspondent. Subscribe for lessons from my 15 years in media and PR
The Carlson Letter Castor and Pollution, Max Ernst, 1923 Do you like your online self? Do you know your online self? Whether you like it or not, one of the first things a new acquaintance will do is Google you. What do they see? If you’re like many of us, they may see a series of results offering to sell your address, phone number, and possible family affiliations. Then they may see a Facebook page (yours, or maybe a namesake’s), your old work headshot, your LinkedIn profile. If you have a...
The Carlson Letter: On Trust In 1996, toward the end of his struggle with a terminal case of blood cancer, astronomer and public educator Carl Sagan sat down with interviewer Charlie Rose to discuss his book, The Demon Haunted World. In one arresting moment, Sagan — a famous and outspoken skeptic of superstition—made a surprising and moving admission. More than a decade after his beloved parents had died, Sagan said, he still occasionally heard their voices calling in his ear. “Carl!” As he...
The Carlson Letter: On Oratory In 1962, a man stood on a football field in Texas. The autumn heat slicked his face with sweat. 35,000 people sat in stands around him. Watching. Listening. Decades before PowerPoint, TED talks, focus groups, quick-response surveys, and real-time message testing, he gave a long, 18-minute speech in a thick New England accent. He spoke about science. He evoked man’s technological progress, drawing an arc of history spanning 50,000 years. And then he pointed to...