A few of months ago I had some important, and sombre, news to tell a room full about 20 of my former co-workers. After breaking the story to a few people, I soon realised that the story had crossed the room (and been altered slightly) before I had a chance to. Wildfire did not seem like a strong enough word. Pandemic would to be more appropriate. Pandemic – Viral Marketing, well isn’t that a coincidence?

A meme is the measurement for smallest amount of transmissible social information. They’re the building blocks of communication and therefore cognitive understanding, and inevitably logic. These tiny packets of information are easily replicable, and multiply to infinite numbers (see Small World Project). These memes are travelling at an ever increasing speed over the Internet and mobile phones.
I’ll never forget learning of Steve Irwin's death via a badly Photoshopped email. How did I hear the jokes before the news? How long would it have taken me to find out if it were not for that email (and the multitude of variations streaming into my inbox for the remainder of the day). I still see him plastered all over DSTV anyway - as if the whole situation wasn’t creepy enough.

Are we entering an age in which word of mouth is quicker than other ‘old-skool’ marketing tactics? If the message finds its way onto the appropriate platform, I believe it can be. I believe it will be.