Standing Brooms Swarm Social Media in Light of an Alleged Gravitational Pull

Every year, social media finds a fascination in the mundane.

One year, Americans were eating spoonfuls of cinnamon. Another year, a black and blue dress split the nation. With a brand-new decade comes the pressure to create the newest craze—a standing broom. Sorry, no drumroll.

In a tweet that surfaced Monday, the internet was led to believe that NASA confirmed a broom could stand up by itself today and today only. The theory states that the earth’s gravitational pull was the cause for continuous Instagram and Twitter pictures of a broom standing upright.

Like many things on twitter, it turned out to just be word of mouth. A typical broom’s center of gravity will yield the same results tomorrow, in 10 years and in 50 years.

“I got kind of caught into the hype,” said University of Alabama student Alex Borchardt. “I immediately felt stupid when I saw the news, because I became someone who believed whatever they saw on Twitter.”

The theory is not a newfound one. It has been floating around since at least 2012 when CNN posted a video shutting down the myth that a broom was altered by a gravitational pull.

With the #broomchallenge being the number one trending search on Twitter on Monday, it poses the question: Why do things like this go viral? Especially considering that this is not a new phenomenon.

“I think that internet culture brings day-to-day life together,” said William Russell, a psychology student at UA. “Trends like these seem to be relatable and [possess] a type of irony.”

NASA has not commented on their tie ins with the viral tweets, but the jokes keep on coming.

*Insert Memes*

“It’s obvious that entertainment is more important than actual facts on Twitter so as long as you don’t take it seriously, you can have fun with it.”