A trend may appear to be massive if it isn’t widespread. A specific app, meme, product or idea keeps showing up in your feed, conversations and search in your stream. Then it seems that everyone is talking about it. High visibility does not equal high popularity.

This disconnect between what is perceived as reality and what it is is not new in the digital world. We rely on mental shortcuts and our brain’s estimates of what is important, popular, and what people are doing. These shortcuts are then magnified online and can turn a relatively minor trend into something almost unavoidable in the culture.

What’s the Magic of Repetition?

Psychological power can occur in trends due to the mere-exposure effect. The more they see something, the more familiar it becomes. Knowledge can create a sense of significance or credibility, even if the trend itself hasn’t evolved.

This relates to the availability heuristic, a cognitive bias in which more readily remembered examples seem more prevalent than they actually are. It’s easy to remember examples of these five very different videos, which mentioned the same product today. The brain can thus deduce that the goods must be everywhere.

The didactic aspect is that the brain doesn’t have some little survey on the back of it to see how many people are there. It just uses the data that’s provided. When there’s a lot of screaming going on digitally, it’s easy to start hearing it whisper, “This is massive, right?”

The Power of Viral Memes and Digital Entertainment

Social media offers many examples of this. One meme can spread for three days in one place and be almost non-existent in another. A fashion look may become the next cultural revolution as influencers and recommendation systems keep pushing it to the same group of people.

The same is true in digital entertainment. For example, those looking for online slots will find tons of content in search results, forums, video tutorials, reviews, and suggested content. In this ecosystem, the category can be nearly ubiquitous. That doesn’t necessarily mean it gets the same attention across the Internet or in the general population.

The distinction matters because digital visibility can indicate behavior, not necessarily actual popularity, especially when you’re talking about a population.

The Neuroscience of “Everyone Is Talking About It”

It is a part of attention that is central. Reward and motivation systems in the brain are especially sensitive to novelty, emotionality, uncertainty, and socially relevant information. These signals make some information salient and more likely to stick in our memory.

There is also a role for the neurotransmitter dopamine, but it’s the interesting part that gets overlooked when referring to it as a “pleasure chemical.” Dopamine signaling is involved in learning, motivation, and anticipation. Notifications, erratic changes, likes, comments, and new suggestions from digital platforms can activate these systems over and over.

This creates a dopamine chain reaction: curiosity begets engagement, and engagement begets more curiosity.

This can be particularly sticky when it comes to variable rewards. You don’t know which post will be interesting, which video will go viral, or which prediction will get thousands of reactions just like that. That’s what keeps the discussion going.

Prediction is also a constant, inevitable process in the brain when it comes to others. If a trend seems to repeat, it might be reading the strident signals from a relatively small group as proof of a broad social interest – even if that group is small.

The Algorithms Behind the “Big Data” Problem

Recommendation systems can enhance the effect. An algorithm could show more relevant material after an individual engages with a subject because it is engaging.

This creates a vicious circle, because:

Interest → more exposure → greater familiarity → more perceived popularity → more interest.

The use of personalized feeds can be misleading here. Someone can read dozens of posts about a topic, while someone outside that online community may see only one.

Engagement metrics can add another layer of confusion. Millions of impressions can come from just a few people. Different types of digital engagement can be measured (views, reposts, comments, clicks), and niche communities can have strong click numbers. Still, for them to reflect broader engagement, those communities often need to be very active.

For instance, if a search audience repeatedly sees the topic RoyalXO Germany, it can form the impression that the topic is very prominent in the online world of RoyalXO Germany. That is a fair statement about that audience’s level of awareness, but less of a statement about the general population.

How to Tell the Difference Between Visibility and Popularity

The easiest way is to separate exposure from participation. Views and impressions show how much content is being viewed; unique users, downloads, purchases, survey responses, or active users can show a different picture.

It is also helpful to be outside the customized feed. Past behaviors, interests, location, and engagement drive search results, social networks, and recommendation systems. What feels universal can be a highly individualized information environment.

Last but not least, look out for decision fatigue. Exposing individuals to the same message over time can cause them to stop considering its true importance and instead view its presence as proof of its importance. In a world of instant gratification and constant change, it’s amazing that visibility can be a convincing alternative to scale.