Lessons from the nuggets tweet heard ’round the world

There’s no exact equation to make a tweet go viral, but brand managers can divine insights from a teen’s request—and Wendy’s answer.

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“Step Aside, Ellen DeGeneres: The New Retweet Champion Is a Nugget-Hungry Teenager,” reads the headline of a recent article in The New York Times.

In just over a month, Wilkerson grabbed more than 3.5 million retweets on his plea for a supply of Wendy’s chicken nuggets—beating out Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie, which has more than 3.4 million retweets:

HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3

— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017

Wendy’s quickly changed its tune when Wilkerson’s tweet started to go viral, shifting its focus from 18 million to breaking DeGeneres’ record.

The Verge reported:

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