Viral in its most general definition is anything that results in the replication or spread of an object.1
In the context of New Media, viral is a term applied when an idea or movement spreads through a network (i.e. The Internet or any of its subcommunities) and sees a massive increase in popularity over a relatively short period of time. The evidence of this popularity is often in Google searches/trends2, Twitter hashtags3, Tumblr reblogs4, Youtube views, Facebook likes and other forms of quantifiable sharing or interest.
“Objects” that go viral can be a number of different forms (dances, songs, social activism, images or phrases and many others). Often these objects become memes and inspire online communities to create parodies and remixes.
Gangnam style is a song and music video by the Korean superstar Psy. It went viral in mid-2012 and is currently the most viewed video on youtube with 1.76 billion views as of September 2013.
Kony 2012 is a documentary produced by Invisible Children which garnered 100 million views in just 6 days giving it the dubious title of “most viral video ever”.
