A guy at Gawker apparently has it down to a science, literally, Andrew Phelps writes on the Nieman Journalism Lab site. Phelps quotes Neetzan Zimmerman on the elements of a viral post, starting with the element of surprise: “A taxidermied cat being that’s been turned into a helicopter — that’s clearly going to be successful, right? Because it’s got that element of shock, it’s got that element of a cat, you know, it’s basically just tailored to the Internet,” he said.
