The Ghost Influence Podcast: How Viral Happens On Reddit

Brian Swichkow: Social Engineering, Digital Empathy, Community Marketing•podcast.ghostinfluence.com

An interview series breaking down the stories behind viral content, sharing what happened when it took off, and showing how the attention is being leveraged into something meaningful. Whether for marketing, fame, or influence — we deconstruct the art and science behind massive exposure only platforms like reddit can foster. Listen, learn, leverage.

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Episodes

016 Male Fashion Advice: Creativity, Introspection, & Personal Branding On Democratic Platforms With Andy Mai

In search of himself, Andy Mai sought to take a more conscious look at... his look. He was one of the early adopters to jump into the /r/malefashionadvice subdreddit, also known as 'MFA', that has since grown to be one of Reddit's staple communities with over 500K readers. Andy's passion for expression extends beyond himself as he encourages people to experiment with their self image. Leading by example he constructed the now legendary prompt " let's have some fun " and submitted it to Reddit. F...

Jan 13, 2016•37 min

015 The Sanders For President Subreddit: The Birth & Development Of Reddit Communities With Aidan King

By the time Bernie Sanders officially announced his candidacy for president in April 2014, Aidan King had already been preparing (and hoping) for five months. Aidan is one of the Co-Founders of the subreddit /r/SandersForPresident , a moderated community on Reddit geared toward political activism and digital grassroots organizing. This community is more than a place to post updates, it's become a powerful network of supporters around the nation working together for a common goal and it's inspiri...

Jan 13, 2016•38 min

014 The Real Mimosa Girl: Creative Process & Stolen Content Gone Viral With Ali Spagnola

With 29K subscribers on YouTube , 590K fans on Vine , and 2.5M followers on Twitter you might think that someone as prolific as Ali Spagnola wouldn't be impacted by a little content theft — you'd be wrong. Ali shares the brilliance behind her creative process and what it's like when the content you've invested so much of yourself into creating gets stolen. Crucial lessons for anyone building a personal brand. Ali's now infamous 'How to make a mimosa' Vine Ali's stolen Vine, turned gif, and submi...

Jan 13, 2016•35 min

013 Don't Get Wet: From Unemployment To The Front Page, Mobile Game Development With Sandy Gordon

Laid off from his 9-5, Sandy Gordon decided it was as good a time as any to start his career as a Pixel Artist and submitted his first game, Don't Get Wet , to iTunes with his partner Tudor Iancu . With nothing but passion and dedication, he shared his story in a brilliantly eloquent submission to Reddit's /r/gaming community. Striking a nerve with other designers and programmers seeking to make their passion their paycheck, his story took off and eventually hit the front page. Don't Get Wet, su...

Jan 13, 2016•47 min

012 Flamethrowers & Magic: The Highs & Lows Of E-Commerce On Reddit With Adam Wilber

Passionate magician, fantastic human, and COO for Ellusionist — the 'The World's First Online Magic Retailer' — it wasn't abnormal for Adam Wilber to conceive of something as magnificent as a wrist mounted, fully concealable flame thrower. Making it's way to Reddit organically, it generated sales far beyond what they ever expected. A year later, while launching the second (even more concealable) version their ignorance got the better of them and they were banned from /r/gadgets for inadvertently...

Jan 13, 2016•1 hr 2 min

011 The Virginity Story That Went Viral & Sparked A YouTube Channel With Sean Thomas

Responding to the prompt to discuss "the weirdest encounter you've had that's ultimately led to sex", Sean Thomas saw an opportunity to share his virginity story. Channeling his screen writing background, he detailed the epic as vividly as he remembered it. His comment generated more traction than the submission it was posted to and three years later it became the inspiration for his YouTube channel 'Based On A Crude Story'. In this episode Sean shares how he generated 9K subscribers in a week. ...

Dec 13, 2015•44 min

010 Shirt Was Cash: User Submitted Shirts & E-Commerce Inside A Community With Anon

Anon of the viral t-shirt site ' Shirt Was Cash ' shares the origins of the e-commerce apparel website where users from 4chan, Reddit, Imgur and the Internet submit ideas for designs. Having hit the front page of Reddit multiple times, Anon shares how an investment into the community is the only way you can truly generate consistent profits with democratic platforms. Priceless advice to anyone building an e-commerce brand. Anon's 'Shirt Was Cash' Reddit AMA Snapshot of Sweatshirt Tag, Front Page...

Dec 13, 2015•42 min

009 Six Seconds To Fame: Vine Comedian To Illustrator Superstar With Heather Christianson

Heather Christianson is both an illustrator and a curious explorer of the social web. She was naturally curious when, in 2009, Vine launched it's quirky new platform where users post six second looping videos. Quickly finding a natural fit for her humor, Heather started making new vines on a daily basis and slowly built a following. While it was posted two years ago in August of 2013, her Vine titled "my favorite movies" was discovered and submitted to Reddit's /r/videos community just two days ...

Dec 05, 2015•31 min

008 The User Is Drunk: UX Design, Alcohol, & Internet Fame With Richard Littauer

Richard Littauer was more than a few drinks in when his friend asked for feedback on the user experience of his website. While he warned of his inebriated state, the friend persisted that he wanted to know his thoughts. Hesitantly, Richard began diving in and soon realized that his lack of verbal filter was proving entertaining — yet surprisingly helpful feedback. The idea percolated into the purchase of the domain ' theuserisdrunk.com ' which sat dormant until a hackathon where he felt it was t...

Dec 05, 2015•39 min

007 Squatty Potty: Unicorn Poop Gone Viral With Bobby Edwards

Bobby Edwards just wanted to help his mom poop. Having discovered the extensive benefits of squatting to poop, he set out to create "the stool for better stool". It wasn't until a barrage of awkward Christmas gifts resulted is raving enthusiasm that he truly realized the potential of his poop platform... or as it's famously known today — Squatty Potty . Brilliant in it's simplicity, much like the product itself, Bobby's initial marketing strategy was to find bloggers in the health space and send...

Dec 01, 2015•36 min

006 Pixel Thoughts: Meditation Tool Gone Viral With Marc Balaban

Marc Balaban wanted to escape his job in tech recruitment to improve his web development skills and move towards something more creative. He joined a hackathon to push those boundaries and was challenged to create a product in a weekend. Living in San Francisco, California where technology and mindfulness are commonly included in the same conversations he opted to create a sixty second meditation tool. He dubbed it Pixel Thoughts. Some weeks after the hackathon he finished the app and submitted ...

Nov 25, 2015•39 min

005 AirConsole: Redefining Gaming & Media With Rafael Morgan

Andrin von Rechenberg wanted to play video games on his computer and he wanted to use his smartphone as the controller. Unable to find an existing solution, Andrin sought out to create his own and within just two days — he had. He didn't see this as a weekend project, he saw it as a business opportunity and founded N-Dream . The newly recruited team got to work turning a weekend project into a full fledged platform — Air Console . In this interview Rafael Morgan, the team's Product Manager, shar...

Nov 25, 2015•35 min

004 Tinder Hacks: Wooing 4,000 Women And The Media With Blake Jamieson

Blake Jamieson was a few whiskeys in when he started thinking of ways to hack Tinder — a mobile dating app where users rapidly swipe profiles 'left for no' and 'right for yes'. Jamieson contemplated what would, in an instant, make someone choose his profile over all the eligible bachelors on the platform. His method, edit each photo to look as is if Tinder themselves had endorsed him as the 'Match of the Day'. It worked. Blake wooed over four thousand women to match him and chronicled the tale i...

Nov 25, 2015•36 min

003 Reddit Music Player: Turning Democracy Into A Playlist With Ilias Ismanalijev

Ilias Ismanalijev had a solution in search of a problem. Wanting further develop his skills as a developer, he sought a project that would challenge current understandings and force him to expand his knowledge in new areas. Ilias began to develop Reddit Music Player which would later become the open source project that enables Redditors to consume and discuss music in a way never before possible. He eventually submitted the project to Reddit's /r/InternetIsBeautiful only to be inundated with tra...

Nov 21, 2015•33 min

002 Instagram's Apology For Manboobs: From Prank To Profit With James Shamsi

James Shamsi, Founder of Chameleon.LA , arrived in Los Angeles for a job that he would quit before ever completing a full week of work. The allure of the city was one based on creativity and he could quickly see this position wasn't going to afford him much. James had to get creative about building a network in one of the world's largest hotbeds for tech and entertainment so he started looking at the process in a different perspective. Tune in to hear how he fostered conversation for social chan...

Nov 21, 2015•34 min

001 Reel Scary: Rating Movies Based On Scariness With Scott Plybon

As Scott Plybon's degree was coming to a close he knew he needed to differentiate himself in order to survive in the job market. He sought an opportunity to showcase his web development skills with and settled on an idea his wife inspired. In this episode, Scott shares how he developed ' ReelScary.com ', submitted it to Reddit's /r/InternetIsBeautiful community, and was bombarded with more than 150K visitors. Reel Scary Scott's Submission to Reddit's /r/InternetIsBeautiful Create social leverage...

Nov 20, 2015•49 min

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