A few days ago, I saw one of the dumbest videos of my life on social media.
A fake male teacher was at the front of a fake classroom with a fake female student. The fake student was presumably naked with a large balloon covering her in front.
The student had a "surprise" for the teacher behind the balloon.
There was 15 minutes worth of stupid banter, creating unbearable "anticipation" of the balloon being popped to reveal the student's nakedness.
When the balloon finally popped, the student said, "I got an A+!" It turned out the girl was wearing tiny clothes. Holding a piece of construction paper with a large "A+" scribbled on it.
I didn't watch the whole thing. I fast forwarded to end the sanity. It truly was one of the dumbest things I watched in recent memory.
But here's the thing.
It got thousands upon thousands of comments.
And hundreds of shares.
While it was stupid as could be, it got attention. And it spread. Because it was just that stupid.
When it comes to creative work, this is the challenge.
To figure out how to generate this kind of attention.
But direct it towards something meaningful.