Here's what Mashable says about predicting viral
potential:
Mashable built a system called Velocity, which scours the social web, collecting lots and lots of data around how people are engaging with published articles. It then pulls all of that data back to Mashable, dumps it into our own predictive engine, and predicts which articles are about to go viral.
It is likely looking to see the amount the engagement the piece is getting, not just in shares, but comments on its site and social media. One of my friends noted that half her news feed was about Jason and
it wasn't just because of me posting articles. Two of my friends flat out said that Jason commanded their attention. One said that Jason's performance can make spirits soar!"
As of right now, the Mashable article had 42k views, well above any other article they posted in the last day or so.
View count update: 1.58 million!!! Could his video beat Starr Andrews?! (Who was on the podium at the juvenile level at nationals this year. )
Also agree that it is nice that a U.S. man is getting attention. Ladies, to me, were the weakest of all the disciplines at this nationals, which is ironic given the fact we have three spots. Also this whole thing (and this thread) enables to avoid all the controversy/trolling/vitriol regarding the Ladies team selection. Yet one more reason to love Jason! (Though I agree it is sad that Gracie's strong performances are being overshadowed.)