That Viral Hub

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   wildsimplicityposted 9 years ago

   Anyone else concerned that HubPages is so enthusiastically celebrating the success of a hub with a click-bait title/topic that promotes downright unhealthy behavior?

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      sockiiposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, yes, yes. 1000 times yes.
      
      First it was a hub about 4-letter words and slutty-named cocktail recipes. Now HP is making a big deal about a weight loss scheme that is far outside of what doctors say is healthy for long term weight loss (no more than 1-2 pounds a week.)
      
      I am someone who has fought a lifelong battle of body acceptance and maintaining a healthy weight. I have been everywhere from borderline obese to borderline anorexic after taking Weight Watchers too far and going outside of the recommended weight loss goals per week on their program. It's almost borderline triggery to me to see so much fuss being made over a hub about living on a highly denying diet that is not sustainable.
      
      I see nothing on this page about minimal calorie intake and how to adjust it based on your starting weight, daily exercise levels, or other medical requirements (besides a cover your arse "check with your doctor"). No real references beyond "A military gentleman who attended our church some years back introduced me to this diet." Really? This is what I'm going to base a radical diet change on? I think not.
      
      I'm sorry but as I said, this is a personal struggle and issue for me and I find it incredibly troubling to see this type of content promoted on HP. At least on Squidoo and elsewhere they tried to squelch articles on diet schemes and fads instead of promoting them as something we should all aim to emulate.

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         calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I assure you most of the 24 million readers are clicking on it and passing it around not because they think it's a viable diet they're going to try out, but because it's so ridiculous it's actually funny.  And the mock-serious photos make it all the funnier. I thought it was hilarious.
         

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      While I agree that the diet is not healthy (I looked at it and decided it was not for me), I am quite happy that HP is not censoring our content.  We, as authors, are responsible for that and not HP.

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      darkprinceofjazzposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      No, unfortunately this is what I expect from them now.

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      Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      No. There are 1000's of hubs whose content I don't personally agree with or have no interest in. I choose not to read those pages and it wouldn't bother me if they became as successful as the diet one. 
      
      The diet itself is not that different to the 5/2, Cambridge diet, cabbage soup diet, atkins diet or diabetes reversing diet, some of which I would do, some I wouldn't. People can make their own minds up.

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      What do you think viral Hubs are?  All that phrase means is "got millions of eyeballs fairly quickly."
      
      No part of viral marketing is about accuracy or quality.  It's about inducing frenzied sharing behavior.
      
      Why do you think most things to go viral are just silly videos?
      
      I took one look at the title and knew it was a bad Hub information-wise without a single actual glance.

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         wildsimplicityposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hey relache. My qualm isn't with the general internet's guzzling up of inane content. It's with the fact that the HubPages team is celebrating such a lousy hub while simultaneously encouraging us to craft authentic and engaging content. I mean, if they want to pop a bottle in their office over the insane amount of ad revenue that hub is undoubtedly making them, that's great. But sending out an email that encourages others to emulate that sort of writing? Poor judgment on their part.

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         clivewilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         its all about the traffic baby, if you "aint" got traffic...you "aint" got the hub magic
         I can count off hand sensible topics that go viral. Stupidity sells. (Not bashing the user who made the hub, congratulations hun...write one more) But that is what the internet likes.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I just checked the views on that hub and they still are just over 2 million.  How did someone come up with the figure 24 million?  Perhaps they forgot a decimal point??  Either way, that's a buncha views!

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         Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         The Hub was published 7 1/2 years ago.  By January, 2013, it hit 10 million views and had over 5364 comments!  HP did nothing to promote it; all of that traffic was mostly from Google!
         
         The current figure for number of views comes from the HP blog post: http://blog.hubpages.com/2015/04/15/the … -huge-hit/
         
         It's interesting that not one of the complainers on this thread have even a one-million-views accolade!  Two of the complainers even hide their accolades (out of embarrassment is my guess).  The green-eyed monsters strike again!

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            relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Decisions, decisions....
            
            1) Don't show your accolades and let Writer Fox continue to insinuate you are jealous and that your opinion doesn't mean anything because you aren't showing them. 
            
            2) Show your ten million-view accolade so that you can then again be attacked and bullied by your peers for your achievements because that's what tall-poppy syndrome is about.
            
            3) Just ignore Writer Fox who really seems to me to be expressing that no one with low traffic is allowed to have an opinion about diets or web traffic and that just seems like poor reasoning.
            
            ...hmmmm....

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            wildsimplicityposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Kudos to you for completely missing the point of this thread.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Writer Fox:  You know that you have always been one of my favorites here, but this comment has insulted writers here on SO many levels!  Are you having a bad day?
            
            I don't think much of this complaining is due to jealousy, but rather disgust.  I am not anywhere close to having 1 million views, and may never achieve that goal because I write in a relatively limited niche that interests only a small percentage of the US population plus a few others.
            
            I am , nonetheless very proud that at age 72 I have been able to pull my talents together to bring in, as of today, 220,000 views...and that is after deleting probably as many articles as I have written during my three years here.
            
            I don't know much about SEO or Tech Gadgets, and I can't write recipes because I cook without measuring for the most part, so that leaves me with a niche that I know, love and can share in a way that makes me feel good and helps other people.
            
            As a neighbor who just bought a camper said to me the other day, "I wish I could saw off the top of  my head and have you just pour in all the information you know about RVing".
            
            That sums up why I write what I write.  I make a few bucks along the way, which is nice, but knowing people are benefiting from my work means just as much.
            
            I don't need to be jealous of anybody (except maybe those people who still are lucky enough to have all of their original body parts), but I do feel that my opinions should not be judged by the number of views I have.
            
            Having read every post here, I think many of  those who spoke out make very valid points. 
            
            I am happy for the author, but I do think she and HP have not made the best choices...unless of course all we care about is going viral and making money regardless of what it takes to do so.
            
            Personally, I love to see people have success here because it is good for all of us.

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            rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

              Hmm, this is not what I would expect from you. I don't know if I am considered one of the complainers, but I was first to respond on this thread.  I'm always thrilled to see viral traffic on a hub.  But I was shocked to see the hub links on the FB page in almost every post.  I thought it was against TOS to spam to promote hubs and engage in overly promotional behavior.  I guess my interpretation of those actions is different than what HP considers spam hub-promotion. 
            I don't see this as a complaint, it's simply my observation and opinion.  No green-eyed monster here.  It's quite a hike between 100,000 views and a 1,000,000!  Not everyone here is writing for the same reasons and many of us have families and full time jobs.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            The blog post shows the top photo floating to the left.  I did not know you could do this.  How did they do it?

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   rebekahELLEposted 9 years ago

   I was going to share the hub when I first heard about it going viral.  Once I read it and looked at the Facebook page, I decided against it.  In my opinion, she is spam posting the link on her FB page.  And I would never endorse that 'diet'.  My opinion only.
   The hub itself is well written.  The format is great.  But I like an authoritative link with a topic like that.

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      clivewilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      she is getting 22 million views!

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   FatFreddysCatposted 9 years ago

   I haven't read "that viral hub" but if anybody wants to share one of my hubs instead of it, feel free. I won't mind. (haha)
   
   (Note to the HP Powers that Be: I keed! I keed because I love.)

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   paradigm searchposted 9 years ago

   24 million views that hub got... Give the people what they want, I'm working on my Sheep Dating Etiquette hub as we speak.

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      LongTimeMotherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      24 million views? That's brilliant.
      
      I'll bet money that only a tiny, tiny fraction will actually try the diet. Nice result for the hubber though.
      
      I suggest you change your hub to one on Military Dating Etiquette, paradigm search.

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      clivewilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      LOL...I am gonna write a hub on the type of pencil to use when cracking an egg!....viral up!

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      24 million?  or 2.4 million?

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      Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Agree with Paradigm. The more ridiculous it is the more viral potential! Seriously people, if the public likes that sort of thing, then that's an indication of what to produce. Just because we like or dislike something won't bring views, it's the traffic which judges us, so if millions liked that hub then they DID like it. The public doesn't have huge amounts of common sense sometimes....if the success stories of our consumerist society are anything to go by...

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   MuellerWordsmithposted 9 years ago

   I agree, ten pounds in three days is not healthy or sustainable. Seems like crap content to me.

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      clivewilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Nope....i have lost 10 pounds in three days when I paid my taxes...and i have been paying taxes a long time

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   Helena Rickettsposted 9 years ago

   It is crap content.  I'm sure people are trying it.  Sad thing is that they will gain back even more than they lost after they do it because of the body's starvation instinct. 
   
   I will say that the makeover was quite impressive.  They show the before and after on the HubPages blog.  It's just a shame that something so useless and damaging to a person's health is the first one to benefit from the makeover.

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   Ramkitten2000posted 9 years ago

   So, it's OK in HP's eyes to promote an unhealthy, crap diet, but they deem a high-traffic hub focused on a benign, cute product that made a significant number of sales to be low quality.
   
   I realize that sales-oriented hubs -- even those with plenty of text, original and personal information and experience--are taboo around here nowadays, but I just don't get how an unhealthy fad diet hub represents quality, then. Or cocktails with names including four-letter words. Granted, I never had a lens or hub that got 2.4 million views in a short period of time, but I thought traffic wasn't part of the quality equation around here anymore.
   
   I just don't get this place sometimes.

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      Marie Flintposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I basically agree with you, Ramkitten2000. I guess it's a bit like competing in a sport--don't worry about what the competitors are doing, just do your best. I wasn't even interested in that military diet hub. How about if HP divvies up the profits on this one (if there are any) and give everyone a piece of the pie? (Just a thought.)
      
      I personally prefer quality writing myself, so someone's success, in spite of a hub being less than accurate or desirable, is no skin off my back.
      
      Keep writing and blessings!

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      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Well said Ramkitten
      
      Two thoughts occurred to me
      1) It's not uncommon these days for companies to create allegiances by being very open about the values, principles and practices they endorse. I guess I'm just going to leave that one hanging in their air.......
      2) I just wondered if the account holder had yet got round to working out how much MORE money she would have made if she had the content of that hub on her own website.
      
      I guess where I'm coming from is I don't quite see the business interest in HubPages promoting viral hubs - if they jump ship once they become viral....

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         LongTimeMotherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         As nice as it is to think anyone could have a similar result with their own website, I am not convinced that's true.
         
         The topic was chosen by the author and managed to successfully attract google traffic, but if the original article was written with the tools, knowledge and encouragement provided by HP, that has to count for something. Who knows how it would have looked (and performed) had it been created elsewhere?
         
         Plus, it seems its current viral status is due to HubPro editing and promotion by HP ... so that wouldn't have been an influence had the page been on a private website.
         
         Would the account holder have made more money if the content was on her own website? I doubt it.
         
         It seems only fair to give credit where it is due ... and personally I think HP deserves a fair slice of credit in this example.
         
         From where I'm sitting, I see the viral success of this hub to be great news for each and every one of those of us who enjoy hubbing. Why? Because admin has received a burst of income that can help pay their bills and, let's be realistic, perhaps 'compensate' HP for the many fine high-quality hubs on this site that don't actually attract earnings.
         
         I'm hoping HP will fine-tune their HubPro activity to embrace many more hubbers and topics - and make them all viral.

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            relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            She could have, but that would depend on how she merchandised her site.
            
            By the way, I think you might like the below quote and article.  According to this guy, what made that Hub go viral was heavily promoting it on Facebook and how that community chose to share it.
            "Virality is less a function of the content or an influencer than the network into which it is placed."
            - From http://goo.gl/n30Wqi

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               From what I understand, the majority of the views came from Pinterest, not FB

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                  Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Nope, mostly FB in this instance.

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   gitachudposted 9 years ago

   The Hub was already highly ranking for keywords that get tens of thousands of searches each month. The author is addressing a problem that very many people are looking for an answer to - a three day diet.
   
   After the  HubPro editing, the article got an extra boost that made it go viral. When the viral run is over, that hub will still be getting a high number of views from organic search- unless Google decides otherwise.

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   Dolores Monetposted 9 years ago

   I am thrilled that Carisa attracted so many views, that her hub went so wildly viral. Personally, I would never subscribe to a diet of ice cream and hot dogs, but so what? My own most widely viewed hub was written to entertain myself with no hope of views, just having fun. We don't know which example of our work will attract people. I hope that this high tide will lift all boats and if it does, we have Carisa to thank, not bash.

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    makingamarkposted 9 years ago

    I think one of the misunderstandings is that one hub which gets views will enhance all others. The reality is that traffic travels around topics rather than within sites.
    
    For me what would make much more sense is highlighting niche topics.
    
    Now back to my construction of niche websites......

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