This is the VIRAL series, and we’re looking closely at something that permeates most of our internet culture: viral content. Videos, memes, tweets, graphics, these can take over our online experience and change our minds, culture, elections, or just make us collectively laugh. Things that go viral on the internet can have real power. 

Growing up in around the entertainment industry in Southern California and attending NYU Film School still didn't prepare Morgan Shanahan for the success she would find as a content creator. She wrote screenplays and commercials for years before turning to a more personal outlet. Her blog The 818 was a vulnerable look at marriage, motherhood, and mental health and drew her a large following. 

Morgan's platform and talent opened an opportunity at the media behemoth Buzzfeed, where she's been the parenting editor and now parenting video producer for several years. The creative content she's making at Buzzfeed get tens of millions of views. In our conversation around the topic of VIRAL, Morgan and I discuss what it takes for something to get shared over and over, the types of content that work best, and what it means for the creator and for society.  Whether you're totally internet savvy or completely non-techy, this episode will be more relevant to your life than you may think.

Read the full show notes here.

Follow Smartest Person in the Room on Facebook and Instagram.