ABSTRACT
Viral propagation of consumer-or marketer-generated messages has caused much excitement in recent times not least because of its manifestation in novel and high-profile phenomena such as viral videos, consumer-generated content, and flash mobs. Take the example of Thessa’s birthday. Like any other digital native (Tapscott 2009), the German girl had created an event pageMein 16! on a social networking site inviting her friends to the birthday party. Much to her horror, more than 1,500 strangers showed up outside her house on the day of the event alongside 100 police officers who were summoned to keep the flash mob under control. It turns out that Thessa had inadvertently listed her party as a public event and the invitation had gone viral. The event received 2,500 responses from random users of the site before Thessa realized her oversight and removed the invitation. But by then, clones of the event page spotting her address and other details had emerged and went on to garner over 15,000 responses. Given the recent prevalence of similar examples, it is easy to forget that viral propagation – the
repeated transmission of a message or idea via peer-to-peer dissemination – has been an age-old phenomenon. Legends, folklores, rumors, and gossips provide longstanding precedents of virally propagated narratives. We can also trace the analog precursors of digital viral media (videos, emails, etc.) to the likes of chain letters and the Samizdat (grassroots literature covertly produced and passed on among known associates to avoid censorship in the Soviet era). The difference is that viral propagation is more visible and extensive in the digital context as the dissemination of messages is much faster, more scalable, and better coordinated. Notably, the mass adoption of media-sharing platforms and social network sites recently has made it easier for marketers and consumers alike to quickly disseminate their messages to an exponentially growing audience via peer-referrals.
