What’s the definition of a Viral?
Or as I usually call it, a piece of distributed content that you get lucky or clever enough to spread through word of mouth and online attractiveness. That’s a question that has been asked on the Chinwag Viral Email list.
Chris Quigley, a managing partner at Delib, tried to post information about their new product Opinion Tracker to the viral list, but it got refused as it did not meet the Chinwag guidelines:
# The content has to have a viral element, something (eg. a ‘mail to’ or ‘forward to a friend/invite friends to play’ button) that would promote sending the campaign onwards
# The viral must not require payment before it is sent on as this is classified as a paid for service, not word-of-mouth viral marketing. To discuss marketing opportunities across the Chinwag network, please speak to Baz our Group Commercial Director
# The viral needs to be either advertising or promoting something
One of the key issues was apparently that the service did not have a ‘viral element’, someway within itself to send it on. Personally, I think that is not a requirement of a a piece of distributed content, well not the ones mentioned anyway. Far more important than send to a friend is the ability to share the content within the users networks through embed or linking. I’ve tended to see more use of copy and pasting of links to IM, blogs, and email than using a system provided, especially when there may be a concern the other party will use the email addresses.
In my opinion, the key reason that Opinion Tracker is not a ‘viral’ is that it is not advertising or promoting something. It is, itself, the something. Chris says on the blog:
Since its official launch yesterday, Opinion Tracker seems to be creating a real buzz within the political and marketing / research communities
Yes, it may be getting some buzz around it. But that’s not a viral, that’s just old-fashioned news!
As a service however, it looks interesting. All I can see at the moment is the high level dashboard they are using for the London Mayoral elections, which is a pretty good indicator. The buzz monitoring space has some pretty big suppliers in it, so looking forward to seeing how this competes.
Tags: opinion trackerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Buzz Marketing, Viral Marketing
4 opinions for What’s the definition of a Viral?
Robert
Apr 24, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Am I the only person to think that it’s a bit more than slightly ironic that people actually attempt to slap a definition on a phenomenon that is - by nature - undefined?
While the concept of “viral” anything can be somewhat planned, executed, and controlled the true beauty of viral marketing blooms when it becomes something of a juggernaut; uncontrollable even by (or especially by) its creators.
In summary, I believe that sometimes you have to just take something for what it is and not try to force it. I guess I’d be telling that to both subjects involved. Alas, they would never hear me because they, too, are deafened by the immense roar of the “latest thing”: anything “viral.”
Rachel
Apr 24, 2008 at 4:46 pm
There needs to be some kind of definition. I hate the word ‘viral’ especially when used as a noun, but it is a useful shorthand for what I described in my first sentence.
Chinwag is right to have a definition - it’s a marketing maillist, hence the association with advertising and promotion. A lot of the stuff that spreads virally is nothing to do with those things and they don’t want the list full of the sex, sport and jokes that do a far better job of spreading than most marketing content.
Totally agree that the best ones escape the boundaries set upon them.
catherwood
Apr 24, 2008 at 10:59 pm
things to ponder… Before ‘viral’ there was the ‘meme’. Was the phenomenon around the “Snakes on a Plane” movie a viral or a meme? Do viral videos merely propagate or do they envolve, and if so, does a company really want their IP to change over time? The great thing about internet memes is how they beget offspring.
Rachel
Apr 25, 2008 at 9:16 am
Similar, but with differences. For me, viral has been taken up by marketers as a convenient name for a single piece of content that spreads.
Meme, as used by Dawkins, relates to a cultural idea that spreads. It can use the same mechanisms as a piece of content, but has a wider range. LolCatz is a meme, a single lolcat image could be described as a piece of viral content.
Taking a specific marketing example, Cadbury’s Gorilla the original spread through viral mechanisms, the remixes and mashups were extensions to that. If we still get referential content this year, then it’s turned into a meme.
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