Viral phenomenon
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.
The concept of something, other than a
biological virus, being
viral came into vogue just after the
Internet became widely popular in the mid to late 1990s. An object, even a non-material object, is considered to be viral when it has the ability to spread copies of itself or change other similar objects to become more like itself when those objects are simply exposed to the
viral object. This has become a common way to describe how thoughts, information and trends move into and through a human population.
Memes are possibly the best example of viral patterns.
Examples of viral phenomena in addition to memes are:
*
Viral marketing*Clothing
fashion trends
*
Viral email*
Viral video*Viral recommendations
*
Blogging
*Software licenses (such as the
GNU General Public License)
*
Computer virus*
Memes
