Case Study Case SharknadoOh Hell' No! In 2012., Berger and Milkman, researchers at Wharton, published a study that examined why people share online. They found that a critical component of "virality" was the extent to which the content was arousingithat is, how excited it made the reader or viewer fee]. In particular. that research indicated that the content most likely to go viral evoked either positive highearousal states, such as awe, or negative Wswtes. such as anger or anxiety. This suggests that although we might enjoy watching a movie that makes us sad (a negative lowearousal state) and we like to be relaxed [a positive low, arousal state], we are much less likely to tell other people about such experiences. Maybe that helps explain the phenomenon that is Sharknado. If you haven't had the opportunity to watch Sharknado or one of its sequels, it is denitely an arousing experience. In the movie, a storm blows into a major US. city carrying with it many very large and very angry sharks. The sharks then attack, while the protagonists, played by Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, ght to survive and save the city. To call the Sharknaa'o series B-movies might be too kind. When asked about the franchise, actor David Hasselhoff, who appears in the sequels, said, \"The rst one was the worst. The second one was even worse. I'm so honoured to be in Sharlmado 3." The Syfy channel could not be happier with Sharknodo. When the movie rst premiered, on July '11, 2013, about 1.4 million people tuned in. Although the network was likely hoping for more initial viewers. what that audience lacked in numbers they made up for in social media enthusiasm. People watching the movie produced about 5,000 tweets per minute. In fact, while Shnrlmado was playing, 17% of all tweets on Twitter were about Sharknodo! In the days that followed, the movie was mentioned hundreds of thousands of additional times. The team at Syfy didn't expect that level of activity, but they were Whad a war chest of biteesizedino pun intendedi shareable content. and we were able to push it out in a way that didn't feel heavy-handed or overly marketed. It felt very human and relatable and conversational. We poured fuel on the re." As a result, each time the movie aired the number of viewers increased dramatically, which is counter to the usual trend of declining viewership with each rerun. The second showing grabbed 1.8 million viewers, the third 2.1 million, and so on. Suddenly consumers were looking for Sharknado merchandise, like Teshirts and DVDs. When Shorknado 2 [subtitled "The Second One") rst aired, it drew 3.9 million viewers. With Shorlmado 3, the network is hoping for even greater success. That movie has been subtitled "0h Hell No!\" which is likely what Syfy executives would say if asked whether such success was possible without the inuence of social media. Questi 0 ns: . Why do you think the high levels of arousal are a key driver of viral marketing? . What type of power were viewers wielding when they took to social media to convince others to watdr Sharknado? . What type of reference group inuence is at play when Meets persuade people to watch Sharknado? . Have you watched Sharknado? It so, how did you learn about the movie? It not, are you interested in seeing it after reading this case? How susceptible are you to interpersonal influence? , Was the word-ofmouth about Sharknado organic or amplied