If you thought the recent viral Instagram photo and account dubbed World-Record Egg was just a for-fun way to say no to the Kardashian's grip on social media, think again. Someone is going to get some serious cheddar out of this whole thing.
As reported by Taylor Lorenz of The Atlantic, the photo of this egg and the Instagram account it is posted on has been genuine viral content over the last few weeks. Often cited as a fun and trendy way to say that Instagram is absurd and that a random egg image can one-up the Kardashian's selfies, it's only a matter of time until someone gets paid the big bucks from this whole situation. Multiple news outlets (including Fstoppers) have featured pieces about the photo and account and the question on a lot of people's minds is what's the point and what's the endgame here?
The account has been indicating that something is coming by updating the page with new images of the egg slowly cracking, presumably with idea of revealing something inside the egg when all is said and done. It's worth noting that the subsequent posts have significantly less likes and engagement than the original image by tens of millions. As with most viral content, this is probably a flash in the pan situation and I would guess that the big reveal is coming pretty soon (even if that means that the end result is the account itself just gets sold to a person or brand hoping to capitalize on its initial viral success).
Regardless of what's actually revealed when all is said and done, it's probable that the owner of the account ends their day with a pretty serious paycheck. As of this writing, the account itself has 9.7 million followers, the original image has 51.9 millions likes with three million comments. Seems to me a strike-while-the-iron-is-hot moment before the next newest viral post comes around.
Well the other shoe finally dropped.
It's a 1 minute mental health awareness video on Hulu.
I'm 100% happy about where this went.
I certainly don't mind the somewhat public service announcement they've gone with. There is certainly a 'buy my t-shirt' link. But, someone has to get paid to do good.
Sure it's not purely altruistic but I'm willing to take a break from the hand-wringing about the evils of social media and put this one in the W column. I'm 100% sure that everything going on with the world record egg is better for the world than whatever the old most liked post was.