Going Viral

Last Friday night I was out having drinks with some friends when one of them, an engineer, asked me, "What does it mean when something goes viral?" With my expertise in marketing, I thought the answer was obvious. But then I thought about it, and turns out...there wasn't an obvious answer.

My immediate response went something like this: "Going viral means spreading something organically. It's not constantly being pushed or marketed by one source." I thought this was a decent answer until I was asked again: "But does going viral mean it has to be online? Isn't spreading a virus also considered going viral?"

Okay, I thought, good point. So to the Internet we went, and found this definition on Wikipedia:

"Viral phenomena are objects or patterns able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them."

Kind of a scientific definition, huh? We experience things going viral all the time. For example, we all know about:

• The little kids dancing to Flo Rida
• The girl singing about Friday
• The cat mom hugging her little kitten

What's the common denominator? They're being spread online.

So I ask. What do you think "going viral" means? Can something go viral offline? Or nowadays, do we need the power of the Internet to create viral phenomena?