This document discusses the spread and impact of internet memes and viral content. It notes that while memes began as ideas spreading similarly to genes, they now refer primarily to content spreading online. Examples of highly viewed viral videos like Gangnam Style and popular ephemeral memes like the Harlem Shake are provided to show how content can rapidly spread worldwide through the internet and social media. Quotes throughout argue that virality follows patterns and can be influenced, with popularity depending more on what is said than who shares it.

1. VIRALITY
Image
by
PiccoloNamek

2. “When
Dawkins
coined
the
term
“meme”
in
1976,
he
was
wri@ng
about
ideas
that
are
passed
from
host
to
carrier
in
a
similar
manner
to
genes
-­‐-­‐
replica@ng,
muta@ng
and
occasionally
going
ex@nct.
In
recent
years,
the
term
has
come
to
refer
to
Internet
memes
-­‐-­‐
ideas
that
spread
through
popula@ons
via
the
Web.”
Image
by
Steve
Jurvetson
-­‐Steve
Kolowich

3. Image
by
Stacya
“There
are
tens
of
thousands
of
memes
online,
embodying
near-­‐
unimaginable
quan@@es
of
ingenious
@mewas@ng.
From
dancing
babies
to
flying
felines
shaped
like
pop
tarts,
they
sweep
from
sa@re
to
pop-­‐cultural
gags
with
more
layers
than
a
set
of
Russian
dolls.”
-­‐Tom
ChaQield

4. “The
power
of
social
media
is
gravita@ng
very
quickly
to
the
people.”
-­‐Geoffrey
Colon
Image
by
Nicolas
Goulet

5. Last
month
YouTube
hit
1
billion
monthly
users
-­‐
that
is
one
in
two
people
on
the
internet.
Image
by
pmagalhaes

6. Image
by
NASA
Goddard
Space
Flight
Center
Nearly
2
billion
music
videos
are
viewed
on
YouTube
every
day.

7. Image
by
akrabat
In
the
UK,
web
users
spend
203
million
hours
watching
YouTube
content
each
month,
and
with
each
session
las@ng
an
average
of
20
minutes…

8. …which
is
predicted
to
rise
to
1.25
billion
a
month
by
February
2014.
Image
by
Jarek
Jarosz

9. Image
by
russavia
“Virality
isn't
luck.
It's
not
magic.
And
it's
not
random.
There's
a
science
behind
why
people
talk
and
share.
A
recipe.
A
formula,
even.”
-­‐Jonah
Berger

10. Image
by
rarvesen
“It's
like
a
babng
average
in
baseball.
No
one
hits
a
home
run
every
@me,
but
by
understanding
the
science
of
hibng
you
can
boost
your
average.”
-­‐Jonah
Berger

11. Image
by
Ravenperch
During
the
week
of
February
17
the
Harlem
Shake
accounted
for
one
in
every
1,600
searches
in
the
UK
according
to
Experian
Hitwise,
surpassing
Gangnam
Style’s
highest
peak
in
search
traffic.

12. Image
by
Vic
g
By
14
February,
their
were
over
40,000
Harlem
Shake
videos
posted
on
YouTube,
which
accumulated
175
million
views.

13. Image
by
PhilieCheesie
Psy’s
video
“Gangnam
Style”
has
6
billion
views
of
the
main
video
.

14. 16%
of
visits
to
video
sites
end
up
on
a
transac@onal
site
as
brands
increasingly
use
video
to
drive
traffic
to
their
web
pages.
Image
by
stuant63

15. Image
by
dorsal
stream
The
majority
of
which
is
driven
by
YouTube,
which
is
the
third
most
popular
website
and
accounts
for
70%
of
the
visits
to
online
video
sites.
BUT…

16. Image
by
RachelEllen
…
“it
doesn't
fully
majer
who
you
are
or
how
many
connec@ons
you
have,
but
what
you're
saying
rela@ve
to
the
exis@ng
conversa@on
is
what
really
majers
in
spreading
knowledge
online.”
-­‐Jared
Keller

17. Image
by
427
“We
are
living
in
a
digital
world
that
ajaches
deep
value
to
the
capacity
to
share…
…and
to
laugh
together
at
almost
anything.”
-­‐Tom
ChaQield

18. Image
by
Camdiluv
“We
are
today
the
conscious
agents
of
our
own
delight
and
distrac@on
in
a
way
never
previously
possible.
And
with
this
comes
a
new
sense
of
what
it
means
to
be
part
of
a
truly
global
human
collec@ve,
celebra@ng
and
rethinking
its
own
nature
every
day
–
comic
cats,
dancing
babies,
and
photoshopped
Pu@ns
included.”
-­‐Tom
ChaQield

19. All
images
are
licensed
under
the
Crea@ve
Commons
Non-­‐Commercial
Share-­‐Alike
3.0
agreement
and
sourced
from
flickr.
CREDITS
Image
by
๓ậтëø

20. SOURCES
Image
by
-­‐RejiK
hjp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/16/campus
themed-­‐internet-­‐memesgo-­‐viral
hjp://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120222-­‐cats-­‐memes-­‐and
internet-­‐schemes
hjps://social.ogilvy.com/why-­‐the-­‐harlemshake-­‐is-­‐disrup@ve
innova@on-­‐to-­‐socialmedia-­‐campaign-­‐marke@ng/
hjp://qz.com/67991/you-­‐didnt-­‐make-­‐the-­‐harlem-­‐shake-­‐go-­‐viral
corpora@ons-­‐did/
hjp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonah-­‐berger/virals-­‐secret
formula_b_3052685.html
hjp://www.marke@ngweek.co.uk/trends/gangnam-­‐style
marke@ng/4006173.ar@cle
hjp://www.theatlan@c.com/technology/archive/2012/04/
whaQuels-­‐the-­‐mos@nfluen@al-­‐tweets/255453/