Virality In The Big Apple
How one NYU student ironically started a national Tik-Tok challenge
Virality analysis of an article from the New York Post titled “Quarantined NYU students display dismal food options on TikTok” written by Kenneth Garger.
Recently with students going back to their normal college campuses to resume class for the fall, many schools have had to adjust their dining rules to accommodate their local COVID-19 regulations. Because of this many universities are now offering dining where they deliver the food directly to student dorms.
Sadly, one NYU student was less than happy with the meal she received her first day on campus. In his Tik-Tok video, which now has 1 million likes, he unboxes the bag of food that was left at his door.
After this video was posted multiple students made similar videos about the food they received on campus at NYU. Some students even reported that they never received their breakfast or lunch until around dinner time at 6 p.m. that same evening. About a day or two later the University announced they would give all of their quarantined students a $100 Visa card to spend on local restaurants for food in their area.
This is a stereotypical case of virality. This video caught on to a wide range of people on Tik-Tok. The reason why these videos spread like wildfire is because of the emotional trigger that these videos have on the audience. It’s completely outrageous and shocking to see the lack of effort NYU put towards giving their students proper meals, especially in a time where social distancing is a necessity in such a busy city.
Public influence is also a factor in this case of virality because countless other NYU students saw the original video and decided to recreate it with their own dismal food stories.
Ironically, the video gained so much traction that it became a Tik Tok trend to post what your University gives you to eat. Although NYU resolved the issue in a means they saw fit, they most likely would have taken no action had this issue not been brought to the general public’s knowledge and gained so much national attention.