• Video clips that become highly popular through rapid, user-led distribution via the

Internet (Burgess, 2008)

• Viral Videos are often humorous in nature and may range from televised comedy

sketches (SNL) to unintentionally released amateur video (Numa, Numa Dance)

from the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) coined the term

"viral marketing" in 1996.

• They were describing the DFJ marketing strategy of the free email service Hotmail, which involved

the tactic of appending messages originating from Hotmail accounts with the tag line "Get your

private, free e-mail from Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com” (Porter & Golan, 2006)

• A faddish joke or practice (like a humorous way of captioning cat pictures) that becomes widely

imitated.

• In this popular understanding, internet memes do appear to spread and replicate “virally.” That is,

they appear to spread and mutate via distributed networks in ways that the original producers

cannot determine and control (Burgess, 2008)

LOLCAT has had a slow peak and decline; it is still

popular today and can be found on most meme

websites and especially on icanhascheezburger.com

HOW DO VIDEOS BECOME VIRAL/

HOW DO MEMES COME ABOUT?

News media have a

large influence on

audiences by their

choice of what

stories to consider

newsworthy and how

much prominence

and space to give

them.

The phenomenon of viral videos and memes

is similar to the process of diffusion: the

spread of information through a social

network.

• Young and use the internet a lot (Guha,

2004)

• Emotion: happiness, humor, surprise, fear,

sadness, anger (Izawa, 2010)

• Network Connectedness – Individuals are more interested in watching videos, than sharing;

usually only watch what friends/family show them

(Guha, 2004)

• Burgess, J. (2008) All Your Chocolate Rain Are Belong to Us?: Viral Video,

YouTube and the Dynamics of Participatory Culture. Video Vortex Reader:

Responses to YouTube. Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, pp. 101-109.

• Knowyourmeme.com

• Icanhascheezburger.com

• Mashable.com/2009/09/15/kanye-west-parodies/

• Guha, T. (2004). Catching the Video Virus: Understanding Individuals Involved

in Diffusion of Online Videos Through Social Networks. Cleveland State

University.

• Google.com/insights/search/#

• Izawa, M. (2010) What Makes Viral Videos Viral?: Roles Of Emotion, Impression,

Utility, And Social Ties In Online Sharing Behavior. John Hopkins University

• Porter, L &Golan, G. (2006) From Subservient Chickens To Brawny Men: A

Comparison Of Viral Advertising To Television Advertising. Journal of

Interactive Advertising, pp 26-33