Comments on: stop saying viral video

By: Edahn Small

Edahn Small — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:47:23 +0000

Bud,

I found you on Slideshare and now I’m going to start stalking you until you consider giving me a job. (At least until tomorrow.)

I’m not so sure the term is being used incorrectly, even with its original connotation. First, people by and large make responses automatically and predictably. If they didn’t, marketing would never work. You might think that a virus operates more mechanically, but it doesn’t. In both cases, once you know the composition of the target, you can predict how it will react to your virus. If you’re a Determinist (even just a little), then free will is just an elaborate–yet ultimately mechanical–system, just like a cell.

Second, viruses have non-malicious applications like gene therapy, and you could contend that all marketing is inherently malicious, as it preys upon one’s hedonistic drives.

Third, just a (retro)virus can combine a form of itself (RNA/DNA) with a host, memes combine themselves in the form of a mental representation in their host. When someone talks about the newest shitty viral video they saw yesterday, that video is replicating itself, after having altered the host in some manner.

Me on Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/edahn

Nice to meet you.

By: #SayYesKatie; The Dictator Kim Jong-Ils All Over Seacrest; The Secret Adman’s Ball « How soon is now?

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:48:03 +0000

[...] world “Viral video” is a term we all hear regularly. Putting aside for a minute the arguments against the term, I don’t often hear people talk about the ‘how’ of creating content that achieves [...]

By: this video did not go viral / what consumes me, bud caddell

this video did not go viral / what consumes me, bud caddell — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:14:02 +0000

[...] I’ve written on this subject before, and suggest you read this article if you want to follow me further down the rabbit hole – stop saying viral video. [...]

By: Understanding Games: Gamification, Game Mechanics, Game Design « How soon is now?

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:22:17 +0000

[...] For me, 2011 was the year I discovered games. Not in the football, baseball, basketball sense, or the Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Dungeons & Dragons sense. No, games in the marketing sense. While Oxford may have chosen “squeezed middle” as the Word (words?) or the Year, for me it was “Gamification.” I’m not particularly a fan of the word, but it was the one that seemed to stick. And while it may seem trivial to argue semantics – game theory, gamification, game mechanics – it actually is important to try an understand what these terms really mean. We’ve seen what happens when the marketing industry grabs an idea and runs with it, we end up with people still talking about “viral” videos more than two years after the word was ‘debunked.’ [...]

By: OPM in Pictures #1 « SariSari Sounds

OPM in Pictures #1 « SariSari Sounds — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:19:14 +0000

[...] thing I love about spreadable video online like Youtube [shout out to Bud Caddell] is that it’s a great way to discover music, and by virtue of the format, see the songsmiths [...]

By: If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead: Viral Video « Tessa Horehled | Strategic Marketer, Community Manager, Brand Strategist, Digital Communications Specialist | ATL / NYC

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:56:29 +0000

[...] Stop Saying Viral Video [...]

By: Rethinking Viral: Why Viral Video Doesn’t Always Live Up to the Hype | SocialNature.ca

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:17:28 +0000

[...] Check out this post on the topic for more insight: Stop Saying Viral Video [...]

By: The Challenges of Social Sharing, Why I Worry More About Relevancy Than Privacy | Daniel Prager

Thu, 13 May 2010 18:34:06 +0000

[...] Stop Saying Viral Video [...]

By: can companies actually create culture? / what consumes me, bud caddell

can companies actually create culture? / what consumes me, bud caddell — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:38:26 +0000

[...] and to Grant’s response, this conversation reminds me a good deal of my disdain over the term viral – while I certainly take issue with the accuracy of the term, it’s repugnant even more so [...]

By: Steven Wright

Steven Wright — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:24:40 +0000

I agree with the opinions here but I feel many of you are being too kind in respect to marketers and their lingo. I have noted in conversations with marketers, The very words “viral video” are accompanied by a sinister twinkle in their eye. As if they (fully aware of the biological definition of a virus but perhaps ignorant of the technology)imagined their videos spreading and replicating across the internet. Because of this I believe at least for some the misuse of the term “viral” is actually more of a freudian slip, revealing their intentions and expectations.