A recent paper published by Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman from the University of Pennsylvania attempts to define why some items become more viral than others. To reach their conclusions, the authors analyzed over 7,500 New York Times articles published over six months and how they were shared.

As Internet usage becomes a regular part of our lives, we tend to utilize the ability to share news stories and items of interest with our friends and colleagues. Not surprisingly, awe-inspiring news items are at the top of the list of "most e-mailed" stories on a given day. Also popular are useful, surprising and positive articles.

The report posits that this type of social transmission affects both individual behavior as well as attitudes and can influence personal decisions. So what makes something worth sharing?

Awesome events create emotions that can expand a reader's frame of reference, according to the authors. These types of events also encourage people to look beyond themselves and deepen their connections to the broader social world. This encourages the reader to connect with others and spread the word. The more awe-inspiring the event, the more likely that people will share it.

Following awe-inspiring stories, the most likely articles to be shared were those that were more practically useful, those that were more surprising, those that have positively focused content, and those with more affect laden content.