Viral Messages (tell a friend)
This viral thing is really catching on.
Folk tales and fairy tales are examples of stories that were passed on from person to person and generation to generation.
If you hear a really good joke, then you can be sure you'll hear it again several times over the next few weeks. I used to "improve" jokes by changing the details or adding something, and that way I knew when I heard it again that it was "my" version. And if you heard my version then you were, either directly or indirectly, part of my community.
10 years ago Budweiser tried to create a sense of community with its "Wassup" series of advertisements. Annoying though the ad was, people started to greet each other in the street with cries of "wassup". Every time that happened both parties shared the joke, and it reinforced the place of Bud in their community.
Budweiser promoted a particular behaviour. Smirnoff produced a much-imitated catch phrase "... until I discovered Smirnoff" which became the basis of a series of jokes. The Beastie Boys wore VW signs and soon signs were being stolen from the front of VWs everywhere (including my Golf).
Anything that's funny, weird, interesting, useful or shocking enough will be passed on. Now we do it by email or text message. Staff Sgt Roger Parr starred in a spoof version of Peter Kaye's video of "Is this the way to Amarillo". They emailed it to a group of friends, and soon the British Army's email system collapsed under the strain of 40,000 copies of the video. The sheer good humour and exuberance of the video made people want to share it. Follow the "Armadillo" link and see what you think of it.
Every day office workers send jokes, documents, picture, links and short video clips to each other. If they aren't interesting enough they just die. The good ones keep being passed on.
Ford tried to take advantage of this by producing a very short and mildly shocking video of its smallest model, the Ka. The video was completely successful. Shortly afterwards, a much more shocking (cat) video appeared which Ford angrily denounced. But the cat video's bad taste made it fascinating and even more successful, and it transformed the mild image of Ford's Ka.
Viral messages are immensely powerful as a way of manipulating perceptions and behaviour. If you still need convincing follow the Estrada link to see how a cascaded text message led to the resignation of the president of the Philippines.
Folk tales and fairy tales are examples of stories that were passed on from person to person and generation to generation.
If you hear a really good joke, then you can be sure you'll hear it again several times over the next few weeks. I used to "improve" jokes by changing the details or adding something, and that way I knew when I heard it again that it was "my" version. And if you heard my version then you were, either directly or indirectly, part of my community.
10 years ago Budweiser tried to create a sense of community with its "Wassup" series of advertisements. Annoying though the ad was, people started to greet each other in the street with cries of "wassup". Every time that happened both parties shared the joke, and it reinforced the place of Bud in their community.
Budweiser promoted a particular behaviour. Smirnoff produced a much-imitated catch phrase "... until I discovered Smirnoff" which became the basis of a series of jokes. The Beastie Boys wore VW signs and soon signs were being stolen from the front of VWs everywhere (including my Golf).
Anything that's funny, weird, interesting, useful or shocking enough will be passed on. Now we do it by email or text message. Staff Sgt Roger Parr starred in a spoof version of Peter Kaye's video of "Is this the way to Amarillo". They emailed it to a group of friends, and soon the British Army's email system collapsed under the strain of 40,000 copies of the video. The sheer good humour and exuberance of the video made people want to share it. Follow the "Armadillo" link and see what you think of it.
Every day office workers send jokes, documents, picture, links and short video clips to each other. If they aren't interesting enough they just die. The good ones keep being passed on.
Ford tried to take advantage of this by producing a very short and mildly shocking video of its smallest model, the Ka. The video was completely successful. Shortly afterwards, a much more shocking (cat) video appeared which Ford angrily denounced. But the cat video's bad taste made it fascinating and even more successful, and it transformed the mild image of Ford's Ka.
Viral messages are immensely powerful as a way of manipulating perceptions and behaviour. If you still need convincing follow the Estrada link to see how a cascaded text message led to the resignation of the president of the Philippines.
posted by eCitizen at 7:14 pm
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