The Viral Effect: Just What Causes It?

One of my first memories of something going viral, was that wave of people, all involved in giving someone else the proverbial ” Pie in the Face” experience.

People got ‘pied’ in every imaginable location, and it could happen to anyone – although there was usually an element of “Enough of your crap! You know what you need? This!!” At which point a pie, ideally well filled with loads of whipped cream was plunged hard in the direction of someone’s well washed face.

If you would like a refresher course as to just how it’s done, take a look at this clip. It’s called “Bill Gates loves Pie”. You can probably imagine why…

If you’d like to get a look at a few more innocent victims, take a look at this new post by PopCrunch called 10 Memorable Pies to the Face – this is one of the old school viral tactics that can’t hurt by being seen just one more time.

One common place that the viral phenomena is seen is in marketing ads obviously, including those very personal advertisements, the business card.

Here is an entire post filled with these unique business cards called 42 Awesome Business Card Designs. There are definitely some great ideas here for anyone that would like their business card to go viral.

Without a doubt, one of the bigger viral effects lately just has to be the “Rickroll”. The funny cult joke, usually done as a prank, took on some pretty epic proportions when it got mashed up with the Olympic torch procession or a college basketball game. That however, is the really interesting aspect of the viral phenomenon. Why does it just keep on going and going? Because people haven’t got tired of seeing it yet, or because everyone hasn’t had a chance to see “Rickroll” up-close at least once in their life.

For those of you who would like just a little bit more, check out this new post from OMGlists called The 7 Most Epic Rickrolls Ever! It has already been around for awhile now, but it may be that Rickroll is just gathering steam. Think what would happen if Rick Astley were to make a comeback and go back out on tour.

Remember, always look on the viral side of life!