How to make someone go viral? The question has baffled the so-called social media experts for years. Nobody seems to have the recipe but everyone wants to weigh in with their opinion. 

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Sometimes, it is your good looks that can make you an overnight sensation. Sometimes, you doing nothing and just being in the background of a superstar's selfie is enough to get you noticed by millions on the Internet. 

Honestly, we have no idea how this works. 

The latest in the long list of people who have gone viral is a debutant Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier. Google the name and you would become just one among the millions who are looking for her. She has gained thousands of followers on social media - Instagram, Twitter and Facebook - after a song of her film 'Oru Adaar Love' was released on YouTube. 

Some have called her India’s "national love interest," some have dubbed her "the girl who winked her way to fame". 

What has made her go viral - her looks, her smile or a wink? We are still wondering about that. Read more about her here.

Before Varrier, there were others who went viral and went on to become a social media celebrity. 

Here, we bring 5 names that come to our mind when we think about people who have recently gone viral:

Blue-eyed Pakistani chaiwala: 

Picture credit (instagram.com/jiah_ali)

In 2016, a photographer from Pakistan clicked a picture of a tea seller. Arshad Khan, 18, was photographed pouring tea at Islamabad's Sunday Bazaar by Javeria Ali who uploaded the picture on Instagram with caption "Hot-tea" and a wink.

The picture took the social media by storm, making Arshad an overnight sensation. Before Instagram made him a star, Arshad Khan had not even heard about the social media platform.

Soon, he landed his first modelling assignment as Fitin.pk, an online shopping site based in Islamabad, signed him for its campaign. 

An Analyst whose children made him go viral:

Picture credit (bbc.com)

Robert E Kelly, an academic based at a South Korean university, was on BBC World News, broadcasting his views on matters of global importance.

In the background, a little girl in a bright yellow jumper and spectacles swung open the door of his home-office and walked in. She walked up to him and stood next to her daddy. As he tried to gently push the girl away from him, little did he realise that worse was yet to come. 

His second child wheeled himself in a walker. Then entered a panicked woman who slid into the room, looked towards the camera with alarm and grabbed the children and moved out with them.

The clip went viral as the internet went 'awww' and 'ohhh'. Kelly family soon became famous, so it all worked out in the end.  

Kelly later returned to BBC News to talk about his unexpected viral fame and was joined by his wife, Jung-a Kim, and children Marion and James.

The girl in Shah Rukh Khan selfie: 

Picture credit (facebook.com/IamSRK)

Shah Rukh Khan was touring the country to promote her film 'Raees' last year. As he went across the country, he took pictures and uploaded them on social media. Among the numerous pictures he shared, one went viral and not because King Khan was in it. A girl standing in the front row behind Shah Rukh became an internet sensation and people went crazy over her identity. 

The girl was later identified as Saima Hussain Mir, a third-year student at Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID) in Pune. Mir, who hails from Srinagar, received hundreds of marriage proposals on social media as some termed her a model and some dubbed her the next Bollywood thing. 

Dhinchak Pooja: 

Picture credit (Screengrab: YouTube/Dhinchak Pooja)

A hugely (un)popular song by a Delhi University student went viral on YouTube last year. Her cringe-pop song ‘Selfie Maine Le Li Aaj’ prompted many to look her up on the internet, and they found her past compositions like ‘Swag Wali Topi’ and ‘Daaru’. 

The 23-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh, whose real name is Pooja Jain, later made wild card entry in Salman Khan's show Bigg Boss 11. She was evicted after spending two weeks in the house but the buzz is that she has landed another TV show. 

Taher Shah:

Picture credit (Screengrab: YouTube/Taher Shah) 

In 2013, song 'Eye to eye' went viral on YouTube and Taher Shah became a popular name, not just in Pakistan but in India as well. 

Shah, an unknown Pakistani singer, caught the 'eyes' of the internet by using a vast repertoire of adjectives for eyes. Shah's popularity comes from 'so bad it's good' genre. Many made fun of him, many trolled him but it did not deter him from pursuing his dreams and he came with another song in 2016, this time with a song "Angel".