Charlie Bit My Finger: The most viewed video on YouTube - 194 million views. Even home videos can rival Hollywood viewing figures, with the help of the internet. [youtube.com]

The Internet has grown up. Far from the preserve of a geeky few it once was, there's no doubting the potential mass-market that lies largely untapped in the online world.

Content that truly goes 'viral' achieves attention of astronomical scales; The most popular video on YouTube stands at nearly 200m views, and there are presumably thousands more videos with multi-million view counts.

Non-technical, accessible content

Any content that gets a lot of attention has one thing in common: it must have been liked by a sizeable proportion of its audience. Any content that's divisive, relies on certain knowledge or interest, or is less accessible to those outside its intended audience, will not likely reach a 'critical mass' needed for it to go viral.

Make content everyone can relate to

The Simpsons: Demonstrative that topics and scenarios with widespread relevance attract larger audiences than so-called 'cult' shows.

Consider soap operas - tales of everyday people enduring everyday drama. Events and topics relevant to most will appeal to the widest possible audience. Compare, for instance, Matt Groening's 'The Simpsons' and 'Futurama' - both similarly structured TV series, one about a common, dysfunctional family, and another about a dead-beat time traveller flung far forward to the future.

The more familiar, family setting of The Simpsons has helped secure widespread popularity and success for over 20 years now - while Futurama has more of a cult fan-base, and was cancelled after 4 seasons. It's not a question of quality - but relevance. The escapism of science fiction, although a draw for some, cannot match the resonance that the family scenes the Simpsons provide.

Referencing already popular culture doesn't hurt

Weezer's 'Pork and Beans': When popular and internet cultures collide. 21 viral references in a little over 3 minutes. [youtube.com]

If you can't be The Simpsons, you can certainly reference them. Popular internet culture - 'memes' are ripe for recycling and producing content. Something the 'Cheezburger' network has certainly taken to heart.

While memes tend to be quite temporal, and short-lived - you can get away with referencing the popular ones in an effort to leverage their popularity. If you're into merchandising, you could even consider starting a T-shirt company and specialise in riding memes into the ground.

Be fun, humorous, funny, or light-hearted

Break: Popular site built on a solid foundation of humorous content. [break.com]

Jokes and games are popular entertainment

If you can't be interesting, you can at least be funny. Humour has long been a part of the more popular sites on the internet. Some of the oldest 'viral' websites relied primarily on humour for their effect - venerable site 'TheSpark.com' gained some attention through a combination of interactive tests and comical projects such as 'stinkymeat'.

The Onion have been long-term purveyors of internet humour, carrying on the tradition of the print-based magazine since 1996. Consistent output has seen them placed in the top few thousand websites worldwide for traffic for most of their lifespan.

Humour lends itself to sharing with others

Sharing a joke with friends has a history that predates the internet by some margin, and not much has changed. The amusing, funny or silly is a core element of most popular content, and a sprinkling of levity will encourage people to spread the word.

Easily shareable, conducive to 'going viral'

Badger, Badger, Badger: Simple and to the point, with an URL that (although not particularly short) is memorable. [badgerbadgerbadger.com]

Going viral relies on two factors: The first is that the content in question inspires the user to share it with their friends - and the second is that they are able to share it.

Easily shareable URLS for IM and email

Permanent URLs are a must - your users need to be able to share your site with others via IM and email easily. Don't hide your content behind too much AJAX or Flash navigation - ensure they're able to link directly.

Generally speaking, the shorter the URL, the better - if people can memorise your site they'll be able to share it again and again.

Facebook: The current gold standard for social networking, and a platform through which users can easily share links. [facebook.com]

Encourage users to participate through social media

Users will naturally share interesting links with email, IM and social media sites - but you can assist them by providing widgets and buttons for them to do so in one-click. It might not persuade a user to share, but will make it easier should they decide to.

Popular social networking sites include Facebook and Twitter, and more link-oriented sites include Reddit and Digg, although there are many more potential sites, each with their own audience.

Rich, strongly visual content

I Can Has Cheezburger: Cornerstone of a media empire built on pictures of cats with text overlaid. [icanhascheezburger.com]

Oddly enough, text-only content seldom gains massive popularity - most hit content tends to be image or video-based. Audio-visual content is the key as far as viral content is concerned.

Images focus attention

Amusing pictures have long been the staple of internet entertainment - from LOLcats to animated GIFs, the image is a form of currency for exchange online - one only needs to venture over to 4chan to understand the scale of communities devoted to sharing images.

YouTube: Currently the prime place for video content on the web. Member of the Google stables and boasts a potential audience of millions. [youtube.com]

Videos are even better

The only thing better than an amusing image is a short, funny video clip - and YouTube is the perfect platform for video sharing, with an audience ready and waiting to turn an unknown clip into an internet sensation.

With visuals and audio content in perfect unison, there are few formats better for distributing online (bandwidth issues aside) than the humble video. With the typical user's attention span, you need as lively a format as possible.

Instant gratification

YouTube's 'Fred': Video entertainment for the ADHD generation. 1.7m subscribers can't be wrong. [youtube.com]

Non-committed users are impatient

There's no sense in placing obstacles between your audience and the content pay-off. The sooner you cut to the chase and deliver entertainment, the more likely it is casual members of your audience will stick around.

Quicker pay-off means more satisfied before boredom sets in

Long introductions, boring openings and general lack of anticipation will lead to your viewers moving on prematurely - with no chance of sharing your content. Get to the point as quickly as is comfortable, and even the most attention-lacking viewer might stand a chance.

Producing viral content essentially boils down to ensuring you remove any and all obstacles to enjoyment for as wide an audience as possible. You must ensure your subject matter has widespread appeal - and that you are delivering it in an unencumbered, obstacle-free manner - ideally as a video. Also ensure you help users share your video via any means possible, and - with a stroke of luck - you might just manage to reach a large audience.

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