Why the Free At-Home Covid Test Website Went Viral

Government websites, as a general rule, are more likely to make people hit the snooze button than go viral. 

But the free at home Covid test website hit all the virality sensors simultaneously: the tests are scarce; they're expensive; the site offers them for free; it carries no political baggage because even many anti-vaxxers want to test thanks to omicron. So it was like a Black Friday sale item - everyone wanted them, they were hard to find, we tend to trust friends more than authorities these days and being the first to let others know where to get them created minor celebrities in every social circle. Professional marketers are jealous. JL

Shira Ovide reports in the New York Times:

There seemed to be a simple explanation as to why a government website received the attention that a new Beyoncé album might: We love free stuff, and many Americans have wanted home Covid tests but couldn’t easily find or afford them. (But) The test kit website may have gone viral for the same reasons that a Black Friday sale can spread quickly: It makes us feel good to tell others something that may be helpful - especially if the information feels secret - and we trust people we know more than experts. When products are scarce, it makes us more eager to get in on the action. The coronavirus test kits check all those boxes.

The hottest gossip this week was about swabs to shove up your nose.

When the U.S. government started a new website on Tuesday for people to order free at-home coronavirus tests, you might have heard about it from everyone. Moms texted their kids. Friends told one another in group chats, and then in different group chats. Perhaps your garden club told you.

There seemed to be a simple explanation as to why a government website received the attention that a new Beyoncé album might: We love free stuff, and many Americans have wanted home Covid tests but couldn’t easily find or afford them.

But people who study human behavior told me that there might be more to the story. The test kit website may have gone viral for some of the same reasons that a Black Friday sale can spread quickly: It makes us feel good to tell others something that may be helpful — especially if the information feels like secret knowledge — and we tend to trust people we know more than experts.

“We often see things that go viral and think it’s random luck or chance, but there are principles that make things more viral,” said Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”

Dr. Berger said that when he saw people sharing information about the test kits, he recognized many of the same human tendencies that businesses harness to spread the word about a new product.

The “secret” menu at the fast food chain In-N-Out Burger is not a secret. Instead, Dr. Berger said, it’s clever marketing that capitalizes on the zings of pleasure that we get — whether we’re aware of the strategy or not — from passing on what seems like hidden information.

That’s also how gossip spreads, and why we were inclined to tell friends where we bought toilet paper when it was hard to find.

We’re also more likely to share information about a topic that arouses fear or other strong emotions. And of course, when products are exclusive or we believe that they’re scarce, it makes us more eager to get in on the action. The coronavirus test kits check all those boxes.

 

Jessica Calarco, a sociology professor at Indiana University, also told me that people are inclined to base their health decisions on the actions of people they know, or people they believe are like them. Social pressure — like hearing about the coronavirus test website repeatedly from friends and family — can be more influential than official health recommendations or advice from doctors.

News about the coronavirus test website “was primarily spread person-to-person in a more informal way, creating social pressure to participate and inspiring trust in the system as a whole,” Dr. Calarco told me.

Harmful rumors and conspiracy theories can spread for similar reasons. We’re more inclined to pass on news that scares us, and we like to feel in the know and as though we’re helping. Misinformation researchers warn about rumors that seem to come from “a friend of a friend,” because we’re more likely to trust a claim that appears to come from our social connections.

This week, though, was another example of the way in which the same behaviors and tendencies that help sell hamburgers and spread gossip can also persuade many millions of Americans to contribute to the public good.