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Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or that are able to Self-replication themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the term viral pertains to a video, image, or written content spreading to numerous online users within a short time period. This concept has become a common way to describe how thoughts, information, and trends move into and through a human population. (2025). 9780816670055, University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816670055
The popularity of viral media has been fueled by the rapid rise of social network sites, (2025). 9780814743508, NYU Press. ISBN 9780814743508 wherein audiences—who are metaphorically described as experiencing "infection" and "contamination"—play as passive carriers rather than an active role to 'spread' content, making such content " go viral". The term viral media differs from Spreadability as the latter refers to the potential of content to become viral. are one known example of informational viral patterns.
For example, multiple viral videos featuring Vince McMahon promoted misogynistic messages and hate against Jewish people, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. The video depicted McMahon throwing money into the ring at a WWE event. This video was taken out of context to support misogynistic views for the Men Going Their Own Way Movement to gain attention according to research led by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. This example demonstrates how public figures are turned into viral phenomena. Popular audio and video content on apps like TikTok are also used as memes of public figures.
In Understanding Media (1964), philosopher Marshall McLuhan describes photography in particular, and technology in general, as having a potentially "virulent nature." In Jean Baudrillard's 1981 treatise Simulacra and Simulation, the philosopher describes An American Family, arguably the first "reality" television series, as a marker of a new age in which the medium of television has a "viral, endemic, chronic, alarming presence."
Another formulation of the 'viral' concept includes the term media virus, or viral media, coined by Douglas Rushkoff, who defines it as a type of Trojan Horse: "People are duped into passing a hidden agenda while circulating compelling content." Mosotho South-African media theorist Thomas Mofolo uses Rushkoff's idea to define viral as a type of virtual collective consciousness that primarily manifests via digital media networks and evolves into offline actions to produce a new social reality. Mofolo bases this definition on a study about how internet users involved in the Tunisian Arab Spring perceived the value of Facebook towards their revolution. Mofolo's understanding of the viral was first developed in a study on Global Citizen's #TogetherAtHome campaign and used to formulate a new theoretical framework called Hivemind Impact. Hivemind impact is a specific type of virality that is simulated via digital media networks with the goal of harnessing the virtual collective consciousness to take action on a social issue. For Mofolo, the viral eventually evolves into McLuhan's 'global village' when the virtual collective consciousness reaches a point of noogenesis that then becomes the noosphere.
Content is more likely to reach this point, however, if it embodies certain characteristics that drive consumers to share. Research conducted by Dr. Jonah Berger at The University of Pennsylvania, summarized in his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, suggests that content’s shareability can be increased by activating six key S.T.E.P.P.S. (i.e., Social currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical value, and Stories).
Social currency refers to the fact that people are more likely to share things that make them look good, rather than bad. Consequently, the more sharing something makes people look smart, special, or in the know, the more likely they are to pass it on.
Triggers – top of mind means tip of tongue. Sharing something requires thinking about it first, so the more people are reminded about a particular thing, the more likely they are to share it. Rebecca Black’s viral hit “Friday” gained traction from the built-in trigger of the end of the week.
Emotion – when we care, we share. The more something activates emotion, particularly high arousal ones, the more likely people are to pass it on. An advertisement that tugs on heartstrings is more likely to be shared than an unemotional one.
Public – built to show, built to grow. People tend to imitate others. But they can only imitate what others are doing if they can see it. So the easier it is to see what others are doing, the easier it is to imitate. Visible colors, patterns, or logos as well as things like "I voted" stickers facilitate imitation.
Practical value – news you can use. People want to help others, so the more useful something is, the more likely people are to share it. Ways to save time and money, or useful advice, are all examples of this.
Stories are vessels, or carriers of information. They bring products, services, and ideas along for the ride. So building a Trojan Horse Story can be a helpful way to encourage something to spread.
Urban legends also began as word-of-mouth memes. Like hoaxes, they are examples of falsehoods that people swallow, and, like them, often achieve broad public notoriety.
It is sometimes difficult to predict which images and videos will "go viral"; sometimes the creation of a new Internet celebrity is a sudden surprise. One of the first documented viral videos is "Numa Numa", a webcam video of then-19-year-old Gary Brolsma lip-syncing and dancing to the Romanian pop song "Dragostea Din Tei".
The sharing of text, images, videos, or links to this content have been greatly facilitated by social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Other mimicry memes carried by Internet media include , language variations like intentional misspellings, and fads like planking. The popularity and widespread distribution of Internet memes have gotten the attention of advertisers, creating the field of viral marketing. A person, group, or company desiring much fast, cheap publicity might create a hashtag, image, or video designed to go viral; many such attempts are unsuccessful, but the few posts that "go viral" generate much publicity.
The classification is probably assigned more as a result of intensive activity and the rate of growth among users in a relatively short amount of time than of simply how many hits something receives. Most viral videos contain humor and fall into broad categories:
An example of one of the most prolific viral YouTube videos that fall into the promotional viral videos category is Kony 2012. On March 5, 2012, the charity organization Invisible Children Inc. posted a short film about the atrocities committed in Uganda by Joseph Kony and his rebel army. Artists use YouTube as their one of the main branding and communication platform to spread videos and make them viral. YouTube viral videos make stars. As an example, Justin Bieber who was discovered since his video on YouTube Chris Brown's song "With You" went viral. Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has become a hub for aspiring singers and musicians. Talent managers look to it to find budding pop stars. (2025). 9780262526166, The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262526166
According to Visible Measures, the original "Kony 2012" video documentary, and the hundreds of excerpts and responses uploaded by audiences across the Web, collectively garnered 100 million views in a record six days. This example of how quickly the video spread emphasizes how YouTube acts as a catalyst in the spread of viral media. YouTube is considered as "multiple existing forms of participatory culture" and that trend is useful for the sake of business. "The discourse of Web 2.0 its power has been its erasure of this larger history of participatory practices, with companies acting as if they were "bestowing" agency onto audiences, making their creative output meaningful by valuing it within the logics of commodity culture."
Users who spread disinformation use the of video platforms, like YouTube or TikTok, exploit engagement tools in order to get their content viral. Users employ that influence the recommendation algorithm: generic hashtags (#foryou; #fyp; etc.) as well as the hashtags of trending topics. Users who want to spread disinformation also intentionally use variations of banned terms to evade content moderation. These misspelled terms have the same meaning and influence as the original terms. Users who want to spread disinformation use other tools that allow their videos to get viral: content elements such as point of view, scale, style, text, as well as the time their content is more likely to get viral. Also, the more emotion the content raises, the more chance the content has to get viral.
Users who spread disinformation that violates TikTok's terms and conditions have multiple methods of getting around these rules. One way that a user can do this is by respawned accounts, to do this a user will create a new account after they have been banned they use a similar user name to their previous one so they can easily be found again. Another way users can get around terms and conditions is by a multiple part video series on their account where they often spell out racial slurs and hate speech. This not only gets a users account more views which could result in the algorithm pushing their content more but also evades the rules set by the developers as the algorithm has trouble flagging these multiple part videos.
The use of viral marketing is shifting from the concept that the content drives its own attention to the intended attempt to draw the attention. The companies are worried about making their content 'go viral' and how their customers' communication has the potential to circulate it widely. There has been much discussion about morality in doing viral marketing. Iain Short (2010) points out that many applications on Twitter and Facebook generates automated marketing message and update it on the audience's personal timelines without users personally pass it along.
Stacy Wood from North Carolina State University has conducted research and found that the value of recommendations from everyday people has a potential impact on the brands. Consumers have been bombarded by thousands of messages every day which makes authenticity and credibility of marketing message been questioned; word of mouth from 'everyday people' therefore becomes an incredibly important source of credible information. If a company sees that the word-of-mouth from " the average person" is crucial for the greater opportunity for influencing others, many questions remain. "What implicit contracts exist between brands and those recommenders? What moral codes and guidelines should brands respect when encouraging, soliciting, or reacting to comments from those audiences they wish to reach? What types of compensation, if any, do audience members deserve for their promotional labor when they provide a testimonial."
An example of effective viral marketing can be the unprecedented boost in sales of the Popeyes chicken sandwich. After the Twitter account for Chick-fil-A attempted to undercut Popeyes by suggesting that Popeyes' chicken sandwich was not the "original chicken sandwich", Popeyes responded with a tweet that would end up going viral. After the response had amassed 85,000 retweets and 300,000 likes, Popeyes chains began to sell many more sandwiches to the point where many locations sold all of their stock of chicken sandwiches. This prompted other chicken chains to tweet about their chicken sandwiches, but none of these efforts became as widespread as it was for Popeyes.
The spread of viral phenomena is also regarded as part of the cultural politics of network culture or the virality of the age of networks. Network culture enables the audience to create and spread viral content. "Audiences play an active role in 'spreading' content rather than serving as passive carriers of viral media: their choices, investments, agendas, and actions determine what gets valued." Various authors have pointed to the intensification in connectivity brought about by network technologies as a possible trigger for increased chances of infection from wide-ranging social, cultural, political, and economic contagions. For example, the social scientist Jan van Dijk warns of new vulnerabilities that arise when network society encounters "too much connectivity." The proliferation of global transport networks makes this model of society susceptible to the spreading of biological diseases. Digital networks become volatile under the destructive potential of computer viruses and worms. Enhanced by the rapidity and extensiveness of technological networks, the spread of social conformity, political rumor, fads, fashions, gossip, and hype threatens to destabilize established political order.
Links between viral phenomena that spread on digital networks and the early sociological theories of Gabriel Tarde have been made in digital media theory by Tony D Sampson (2012; 2016). In this context, Tarde's social imitation thesis is used to argue against the biological deterministic theories of cultural contagion forwarded in memetics. In its place, Sampson proposes a Tarde-inspired somnambulist media theory of the viral.
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