# data[].attributes.headline
Chiara - you and social media...Can you write me something about your relationship with social media

# data[].attributes.subject
Chiara - you and social media...Can you write me something about your relationship with social media

# data[].attributes.body
What sites do you use?
How long do you spend on the internet in general - and do you tweet/share etc?
Does your husband have the same opinion? what does he do on the internet and why?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Rob is keen to share funny videos - he loves cat ones. Neil is not interested. What makes people want to share them? Listen to the programme.

This week's question:

Which was one of the first videos to go viral on the internet? Was it...

a) Charlie Bit my Finger,

b) Sneezing Panda or

c) Dancing Baby?

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary

meme
a picture or video with an amusing caption that a lot of people share with each other online

grumpy
bad tempered!

viral
when something (e.g. a video or picture) gets passed on very quickly from person to person on the internet

peers
people the same age as ourselves who share the same social position in a group

arousal (to arouse)
to excite a particular feeling in somebody

to fire someone up
to make someone excited and enthusiastic about something

Transcript

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Neil
Hello. I'm Neil. Welcome to 6 Minute English, where we like to share...

Rob
Jokes, funny stories and cat videos...

Neil
No, Rob - we like to share six useful items of vocabulary.

Rob
Yes, that too. But first, check out this meme on my phone, Neil - Grumpy Cat - it's so cute! Shall I send it to you?

No, please don't! A meme is a picture or video with an amusing caption that a lot of people share with each other online. Well, in this programme we're talking about why some online content goes viral...

... and some doesn't. This cat is cute because it looks so grumpy - and that means 'bad tempered'.

An image, video, or other piece of information goes viral when it gets passed on very quickly from person to person on the internet.

So first let's start with our quiz question, Neil. Can you tell me which was one of the first videos to go viral on the internet? Was it...
a) Charlie bit my finger,
b) Sneezing Panda or
c) Dancing Baby?

Neil
I'm going to guess 'Sneezing Panda' - because I haven't seen any of those videos.

Rob
That's ridiculous Neil. Have you been living under a rock?

Neil
Look, I just don't find silly videos particularly cute - or funny.

OK, OK, no need to get grumpy about it. Let's move on. Why do so many people - Neil excluded - enjoy sharing content online? Let's listen to Dr Jonah Berger, Marketing Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Contagious: Why things catch on, talking about what motivates us to share.

Dr Jonah Berger, Marketing Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author
Humans are social animals. Sharing allows us (to) feel connected to others. We share emotions, which allow us to deepen the bonds we have with our peers and with our friends.

So it's all about being connected and deepening the bonds between ourselves and our peers. Our peers are people the same age as ourselves who share the same social position in a group.

Rob
And we particularly like to share content that makes us feel emotional. Let's hear more from Dr Jonah Berger about this.

Dr Jonah Berger, Marketing Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author
High arousal emotions include things like anger and anxiety, but also excitement and humour, low arousal - sadness and contentment. [It] turns out that those high-arousal emotions - those emotions that fire us up and cause us to take action - also drive us to share.

Arousal means 'to excite a particular feeling in somebody'. And emotions like anger and anxiety tend to cause stronger feelings than sadness and contentment.

Right - high-arousal emotions fire us up - and to fire someone up means 'to make someone excited and enthusiastic about something'. So when a video we see on the internet makes us laugh - or makes us excited or angry - then we are more likely to share it with others.

Neil
And sharing that emotion with others strengthens the connection or bond between us. That's what Dr Berger's theory says anyway.

Rob
I'm surprised that sad things aren't passed on as much as, say, funny things.

Neil
Well, how often do you share sad videos with your peers?

Rob
Good point. I do tend to share content that makes me laugh - more than sad or angry stuff anyway. Like the Grumpy Cat meme. Can I show it to you now?

Neil
No.

Rob
OK. I'll just show you the caption. It says, "I purred once. It was terrible".

Neil
Yeah. Right. Hilarious, Rob. Now, can we have the answer to today's quiz question, please, if you've finished amusing yourself?

Rob
OK. OK. Which was one of the first videos to go viral on the internet? Was it... a) Charlie Bit my Finger, b) Sneezing Panda or c) Dancing Baby?

Neil
And I said 'Sneezing Panda'.

Rob
Well, it was actually Dancing Baby. This 3-dimensional animation of a baby dancing the cha-cha was one of the first viral videos released in the late 1990s. Another popular one was the Hamster Dance by Hampton the Hamster, which appeared in 1997.

Well, fascinating as all that sounds, shall we look back at the words we learned today, Rob?

Sure. The first item was 'meme' - a picture or video with an amusing caption that a lot of people share with each other online. For example, "I tried to show Neil a hilarious meme about a grumpy cat."

Neil
The word 'meme' was actually invented by evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins to represent an idea or concept that spreads in human culture in a similar way to a gene.

Rob
Fascinating. That sounds way too complicated, Neil. Let's move on to item number two - 'grumpy' - I gave one example just now. But here's another one: "He's the grumpiest man I've ever met."

Neil
I hope you're not talking about me, Rob. Number three - 'to go viral' - means 'an image, video, or other piece of information that gets passed on very quickly from person to person on the Internet'. For example, "What makes a video go viral?"

Rob
I don't know, Neil - If I knew how to make a viral video, I'd be a rich man by now!

Neil
Before computers and the internet we only talked about viral infections, didn't we? "I've got a nasty viral infection so I'm not coming into work today."

Rob
Yeah, that's right. The connection is that both viral infections and viral memes spread quickly!

Neil
OK - number four. 'Peers' are people the same age as our selves who share the same social position in a group.

Rob
For example, "Teenagers often worry about looking silly in front of their peers." Next up - arousal - that means 'to excite a particular feeling in somebody'.

Neil
We heard about high and low-arousal emotions. The verb is 'to arouse'. For example, "The debate aroused strong feelings on both sides."

Rob
OK, finally - 'to fire someone up' means 'to make someone excited and enthusiastic about something'. "I'm really fired up about today's vocabulary!"

Neil
Good to know, Rob. But it's time to go now, but please check out our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages.

Rob
Bye-bye!

Neil
Goodbye!

Rob
Shall we watch that 'dancing baby' now, Neil?

Neil
No.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English / What makes a video go viral?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rob is keen to share funny videos - he loves cat ones. Neil is not interested. What makes people want to share them? Listen to the programme. Which was one of the first videos to go viral on the internet? Was it... a) Charlie Bit my Finger, b) Sneezing Panda or c) Dancing Baby?

# data[].attributes.body
Try this one...
Remember to leave a day or two between the first and final listening.
Follow these steps:
1) Relax and listen - get the general idea. You do not have to understand everything.
2) Listen again, with the transcript.
3) Write your comments about the listening and try to introduce at least five new words/expressions.
4) Listen a final time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this programme, Neil and Dan discuss how food waste could cause the end of the world, and who's doing something about it. And they teach you six items of useful vocabulary

This week's question:

How much of the world's food is wasted each year?

a) a half

b) a third

c) a quarter

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary

waste
something you throw away or lose without using or consuming

leftovers
the remains of food or a meal, which have not been eaten

landfill
a place where rubbish is dropped or buried

a household name
well-known by ordinary people of a particular place or culture

infrastructure
the basic systems and services of a society

abundance
more than needed

Transcript
Note: This is not a word for word transcript
Dan
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English- the show that brings you an interesting topic, authentic listening practice and six new items of vocabulary. I'm Dan...

Neil
And I'm Neil. In this episode we'll be discussing food waste, just as soon as....

Dan
Neil, did you just throw the rest of that apple away?

Neil
Yeah. It was quite a big one and I couldn't finish it.

Neil
Waste meaning to throw away without consuming or using. Ah, it's only an apple. It's not the end of the world, Dan.

Dan
Well, that's where you could be wrong, my friend. Let me prove it to you, with this week's question. How much of the world's food is wasted each year?

a) a half

b) a third

c) a quarter

Neil
I'm not sure. I know it's a lot so I'm going to say a) a half

Dan
We'll find out if you're right or not at the end of this show. So, the actual figure is 1.3 billion tons of food, which is enough to feed a billion hungry people. Where do you think all this food waste comes from?

Neil
Supermarkets! I bet they throw out loads of food once it goes past its sell-by-date, or the date which it can be legally sold by.

Dan
Think closer to home.

Neil
It's us, isn't it?

Dan
Yes. In Europe an incredible 53% of food waste comes from households, which results in 88 million tonnes of food waste a year. And I bet you can't guess what we do with it?

Neil
I want to say recycle, but I can see from your face, Dan, that it's not.

Dan
No. Unfortunately it goes into landfills and decays.

Dan
Exactly, and the end of the world. But, remarkably the European country of Denmark has managed to reduce its food waste by a very significant 25%

Neil
That's impressive, how did that happen?

Dan
They attribute it to a woman called Selina Juul.

Neil
I thought she was Russian?

Dan
She is. But, I'll let her explain.

I come from a country where there were food shortages, back then in Moscow, communism collapsed, we had the collapse of infrastructure, we were not sure we could get food on the table. And coming to Denmark, seeing this abundance, seeing these supermarkets filled with food. But then I was really shocked to see a lot of food getting wasted.

Neil
So she decided to do something about it?

Dan
Yes. She started a Facebook page in 2008 called 'stop wasting food' and 9 years later the Danish government credits her for their reduction in food waste.

Neil
How did she do it?

Neil
Wow, she's a busy woman. So how about you educate me with the answer to this week's question.

Dan
Sure! I asked you how much of the world's food is wasted each year?

a) a half

b) a third

Dan
And I'm terribly sorry, mate, but you're wrong. The answer is b) a third.

Neil
Well, it's not as bad as I thought it was, at least.

Dan
Shall we look at the vocabulary then?

Yes, let's. First we had waste. If you waste something, you throw it away or lose it without using it or consuming it. Common things we waste are food, time, money and energy. We also have some expressions with waste too. Can you think of one, Dan?

A waste of space is an expression which means a thing is completely without value. For example, I'm a complete waste of space in the kitchen. I can't cook at all. Next we had leftovers. Leftovers are the remains of food or a meal, which have not been eaten. What do you tend to do with your leftovers, Neil?

Dan
I agree! Pizza's a great example!

Then we had landfill. A landfill is a place where rubbish is dropped and buried. In colloquial English we might say, a dump. Do you ever take your rubbish to the dump, Dan?

Not if I can help it. I prefer to recycle as much as possible. I only go to the dump if I have to get rid of a large appliance, such as a fridge. Then we had a household name. To be a household name is to be well-known by ordinary people of a particular place or culture. Can you think of a person who is a household name at the moment, Neil?

Oh, that's very easy. Donald Trump springs to mind! Everyone must know who he is. Then we had infrastructure. Infrastructure is the basic systems and services of a society - such as electricity supply, trains, and roads.

And finally we had abundance. If you have an abundance of something, you have more than you need. Do have anything in abundance, Neil?

Dan
And we are on social media too - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. See you there.

Both
Bye!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English / How much food do you waste?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this programme, Neil and Dan discuss how food waste could cause the end of the world, and who's doing something about it. And they teach you six items of useful vocabulary How much of the world's food is wasted each year?