I created a Buzzfeed article offering solutions to sixteen first world problems I gathered from tweets that were using #FirstWorldProblems. I also created a hipster globe (man bun, hipster glasses, mustache, and latte all included) thumbnail for these first world solutions. A first world problem is a problem that people who live in the developed world primarily face and are typically very small and trivial compared to those problems people living in the developing and under developed world face. The concept of first world problems is meant to be humorous, allowing people to think about (and laugh at) their small problems on a larger scale and realize that they are actually very insignificant compared to the challenges others face around the world.

The humorous recognition of people in the developed world’s small problems as “first world problems” makes the solutions humorous as well because most of these easy problems have easy solutions. By posting an article offering solutions to these simple problems, I am aiming to play along with people’s humor about their first world problems and give them another laugh by offering easy and obvious solutions only people in the developed world have access to. According to a recent study by BuzzSumo, it was found that positive emotions like awe, laughter, and joy were found in a total of 73% of widely shared articles on social media (Foster). My thumbnail and article (hopefully) generate these positive emotions by playing off of an already humorous subject, which will contribute to the viral nature of my content if these findings hold.

Writer, Jeff Foster, referenced another recent study, which found that headlines are extremely important when creating sharable content. More specifically, headlines that promise value to the reader by using “you” or “your”, headlines that create a specific image in the reader’s mind by using words like “this (noun)”, and headlines that promise clear information by using numbers were found most frequently in recent viral posts. The headline of my article, which falls under my thumbnail, is “16 Solutions to Your First World Problems”. This headline will hopefully help to increase the number of shares my content gets as it is a headline that promises value and clear information to the reader.

Another study referenced by Foster found that images help to increase the number of shares content gets, which helps make the post go viral. I included a hipster-looking globe thumbnail and relevant images under each point of my article. The thumbnail will help grab people’s attention because you do not typically see a hipster globe when scrolling through your newsfeeds. The hipster globe also plays off of viewers’ curiosity. According to Google Trends, the man bun hit an all time search high this past October and there is still potential for it to reach a new high this month. People are more interested in man buns than ever this fall season, which is why I decided to put one on the globe. Hopefully it will grab viewer’s attention leading them to click and share the article based on its content or just share the post because of the image of the Earth sporting the man bun.

I think the content I created will be viral in nature because it is both engaging and interesting. The hipster globe thumbnail invites viewers to question its relevance to the attached headline, which will ideally draw more people in and lead to more shares.

[pin_widget url=”https://www.pinterest.com/pin/335166397247382936/”]