Sad but true: Nowadays the most viral and shared content on the Internet are either cat videos or “fail” moments. Meanwhile, the videos and articles that REALLY matter—the ones that aim to change the world for the better—are not shared enough.
In fact, studies show that “poorly made porn with weak character development” makes up 38% of the web, while the “stuff that actually matters” only make up about 0.1% of the Internet. Sad, right?
Well, Upworthy, a newly launched website, aims to change that. Upworthy is a “social media outfit with a mission: to help people find important content that is as fun to share as a FAIL video of some idiot surfing off his roof.” Ultimately, the site aims to be the go-to source for content that’s meaningful and sharable at the same time.
As Upworthy put it,
At best, things online are usually either awesome or meaningful, but everything on Upworthy.com has a little of both. Sensational and substantial. Entertaining and enlightening. Shocking and significant. That’s what you can expect here: No empty calories. No pageview-juking slideshows. No right-column sleaze. Just a steady stream of the most irresistibly shareable stuff you can click on without feeling bad about yourself afterwards.
The Upworthy team plans to accomplish this by curating content that’s awesome, meaningful, and visual at the same time. In other words, they want to find content that hit the “sweet spot”. (See diagram below).
Upworthy is currently in Beta mode, and there isn’t a landslide of content on the site yet, but you’ll be able to keep track of what the team is up to through social media. The team is fairly active on Facebook and Twitter, and their Pinterest account already has a bunch of boards worth following. And while you’re at it, you can also subscribe to their emails and receive daily goodies straight to your inbox.
How Upworthy Was Born
Regarding how the site came to existence, Mashable reports that “Koechley, Pariser, Hughes and the rest of the team never had an “a-ha!” moment where the idea for Upworthy came about. Instead, it’s the result of many conversations about how to take the social web’s ability to quickly spread viral content and use that engine to inform people about the important issues of the day.”
What to Expect
As what I’ve previously mentioned, Upworthy is still getting started, and they’re working on curating content for users. However, the Upworthy site explains that the team eventually plans to come up with original content, to give people stuff that they can’t find anywhere else. Other things in the Upworthy To Do List include adding more features that let users do more stuff on the site; attract more attention than Ryan Gosling; “change the national conversation as much as Sarah Palin has; get Ryan Gosling to be a guest curator, and more.
Reaching Out
Got some awesome and meaningful content that’s worth sharing? Or maybe you just want to congratulate the Upworthy team for coming up with the site. In any case, you can contact them at hello@upworthy.com.
Image credit: Upworthy
