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The best graduation speeches are imbued with a sort of melancholy wisdom, The Atlantic writes, but it’s also true that some speeches are just destined to go viral.

The “epidemiology of the viral graduation address has evolved, with young people recording speeches on their smartphones and sharing them on social media, at precisely the instant in their lives when they are collectively hungry to be chastened and encouraged, when they are vulnerable and ecstatic, ready to both laugh and weep,” writes The Atlantic, pointing to Conan O’Brien’s 2011 Commencement address at Dartmouth as one whose virality was “a foregone conclusion.”

Read the full story, published 8/8/13 by The Atlantic.

Watch O’Brien’s 2011 Commencement address:

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