12 Viral Content Triggers

October 31, 2010

For a campaign to go truly viral, amazing content is often key. So, what kind of content works? What will make people want to pass something on? In my experience, you can put one word on it – “remarkable” – something worth remarking about. The content should contain something that people want to tell others, [...]

Read the full article →

Interpretation of the Basic Reproduction Number

October 27, 2010

Maybe not the most click-enticing title, but I hope you find the actual content a bit more interesting. “In epidemiology, the basic reproduction number (sometimes called basic reproductive rate or basic reproductive ratio) of an infection is the mean number of secondary cases a typical single infected case will cause in a population with no [...]

Read the full article →

Why do we share?

October 24, 2010

I believe that word of mouth has evolutionary origins. Put simply, the human race benefited from telling family and friends about where the best roots and berries could be found, where the year round waterhole was, or where the best hunting grounds were. In a way, something that goes viral can be seen as digital [...]

Read the full article →

Some help with the viral loop

October 4, 2010

First of all, I don’t like to use the word “viral” about something that hasn’t proven itself viral yet, but many people use it anyway. To them, it is simply the easiest way to refer to an upcoming campaign they hope will become viral. Whether or not it actually becomes viral, it is well worth [...]

Read the full article →

Pizza & Easter Eggs

October 3, 2010

I noticed this video through Viral Friday. It is Google Mobile showing their new feature My Location. Usually, Google Mobile seems to get between 15 000 and 20 000 views on their videos, but they seem to have gotten something right with this one, since traffic is more than 10 times that. So, what did [...]

Read the full article →

The power of presence

June 30, 2010

Have you ever met an old friend, one you haven’t seen for a while, had a little chat, exchanged your new contact details and promised to meet up and catch up on all the latest? Have you also happily forgotten about it all for weeks until you remember that you actually met by accident and [...]

Read the full article →

Youtube five years old!

May 31, 2010

Congratulations Youtube, you just turned five years old a short time ago! It is quite incredible actually that this destination on the Internet is just five years, considering we have seen countless viral videos, stars being made and political campaigns won. Youtube celebrates with a channel where users can send in their story. And here [...]

Read the full article →

A dis-loyalty card & the world’s best coffee

April 18, 2010

I had heard about it and had pretty high expectations. Would Prufrock Coffee in Shoreditch in London deliver? It wasn’t the typical combination; a clothes and accessories store, combined with a coffee shop featuring two world class baristas. The coffee was great – I had a cappuccino. But, it’s hard to judge whether it was [...]

Read the full article →

BlendTec doesn’t miss an opportunity

April 14, 2010

BlendTec made a huge success with their “Will it blend?”-series. And, they don’t miss an opportunity when they see one. With all the buzz around the iPad, they got what they wanted. As always, using current events is a good starting point for a viral clip. So far, the iPad – Will it blend? has [...]

Read the full article →

Confusion about influentials

March 29, 2010

The other day I read a post about “influentials” – these people marketers and PR-professionals so desperately want to reach. From research by Duncan Watts, we have learnt that influentials aren’t that influential. Influential or not, Watts believes that whether a trend (or idea or similar) takes off depends on how susceptible the society is [...]

Read the full article →