Stop treating viral as a sickness

I get value from copying and replicating ideas, memes, concepts, term papers and even points of view. 

It's how I relate to the world around me.  I copy those I respect and even those I don't.  The choice of what I replicate comes mainly from my sense of identity and those subcultures that I believe myself to be a part of.  This accounts for my lack of conscious control over what I choose to replicate and pass on and speaks to just how present and aware we must be if we want to change who we are.

Which leads me to my soapbox.

So often in this industry (marketing), we say viral but what we're really thinking is "epidemic".  And we are doing a great disservice to everyone.  Because viral is simply the act of self publishing combined with  the transmission of an idea.  It's more closely related to Richard Dawkin's work on meme transmission  than it is to epidemic outbreaks.

I think most of the "viral crap" I'm sent on a weekly basis is because we are focused solely on creating an epidemic.  And we don't want to discuss a strong Point of view (have an opinion!), Relevance, or the Value to the receiver AND to the subculture.

And tying "viral" to "epidemic" outbreaks also means we are using the model of "infection" rather than "sharing" or "involvement."

Great post over at mindblob's hacienda about viral which quotes a Columbia professor talking about how most "viral" relies on absurd humour with no cultural relevance.  Ties in with a wonderful post and conversation over at Get Shouty where she points to the strength of emerging (and ancient) "gift economies".

So I stopped to think about the model for creating something worthy of becoming a meme.  Something worthy of being shared and growing into something larger.

Point of View:  The piece has to stand for something.  It has to have an opinion or position that resonates with the viewer. It has to be part of something bigger.  Mentos & Coke:  creativity, art, geek, ...   Evolution: social power to control women's self esteem,

Relevance: Humor has been a big part of viral campaigns, epidemic and otherwise.  Ever find something funny that wasn't relevant?  Humor breaks down barriers because it takes concepts that might be difficult for us and breaks down the barriers.  It humanizes a message.  (EXAMPLES:

Value: Everyone talks about value to the viewer.  Well, duh.  But what about value to the subculture you are interacting with? 

We like to think of memes as simple little devices.  But they are anything but.  They are complex, difficult to detect and often synonymous with the memeplex from which they emerge.  One could argue that to pull a meme out of its "culture" would be to make the meme unintelligible.  The blogging subculture, for example, is full of hundreds, if not thousands of memes that are difficult to view outside of the culture from which they flourish.

There will be epidemic outbreaks of ideas.  But these will always be the exception.  Our world will actually fight to ensure this is the case.  It has to.  Otherwise we will all be overwhelmed and unable to function; we will be inundated with singing pringle cans, dancing babies and fat guys lip synching.  Society will crash to a halt as we will all be too busy sharing and copying the same ideas on a global scale, slowly becoming an autonomous single macro-culture with no dissenting views, no creativity, and no revolutions.

The BRAIN is a way better metaphor than "epidemic".  And I wish I had thought of it.

"And like our brain, there is no conscious authority controlling how the messages get passed from node to node. The navigation is intuitive and organic."

"This is the desired effect, but this new structure seems dauntingly chaotic. If the path of a message cannot be dictated by any authoritative source and broadcast to a passive audience, then how is it possible to create a strategy to effectively reach an audience that is likely to find the message relevant and compelling?"

--- Mike Arauz writing on how to navigate new media.

Top Image Source: Quiplash!