Did Viral Marketing start with god?

The phrase "Viral Marketing" has become quite the buzz word of late. But I personally don't buy it. It might be fashionable and working for now but it most definitely isn't anything new. Even Wikipedia's definition refers to the use of existing social networks. Pah, as if the web can claim this form marketing.

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.[1] Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.[2] Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.

The Hypothesis

I'm going to dive right in to my hypothesis. I think that if you go as far back as the birth of christianity you will find viral marketing. Maybe it appeared in different forms (godly or other) but it was present even then.Jesus was a man of old, but his story spread throughout the land back in the day. How? Very simply. He did something amazing, incredible, unbelievable even and word spread. He basically created his own viral video without the video. He did something that no one had done before or seen before and the word spread like wildfire. He created his own version of the Rayban, Evolution of Dance, Avril or Dead Terrorist Youtube video and then the public did the rest.

The Scale

Yes the scale of the word spreading might have been significantly less than the 2 Billion people worldwide who are online today but the principal was the same. Humans like to be astounded. On top of that human beings like to socialise, be the first, follow the group and participate in communities and all of this applied then as much as it did now.

The Message

What was being spoken of, spread around and "preached" back then is significantly different to the content that has become viral nowadays. Christianity and other religions spoke of a life-changing concept that was the word, a god, a set of laws, rules, beliefs and ideas that intended to change people and their way of life.Today content is funny, clever, different, advertising, movies, music videos and clever tricks that fascinate people and keep them occupied for just long enough to want to send on the video, blog post, article, website or concept to their friends and their friends and their friends. Yet again, the basic concept remains the same. I like it, I like to participate with people in what I like and thus I will send it on so I can discuss it with them, debate it with them and enjoy it with them. God, The Bible, a video, blogger or mp3, anything can go viral and has been going viral for centuries.

The crusades

The great era of the crusades which were so quickly forgotten by many people today is not necessarily an example of anything viral. It is an example of aggressively marketing a concept to a market that is possibly unwilling or isn't aware that they like the idea just yet. That is, until you shove it down their throats with a blade.Much like today's corporations. If you don't use Google you probably aren't getting the best results. However there are people who use ask.com, yahoo.com, cuil.com (are there people using Cuil?) or any slew of other options. Just as there were people believing in Allah or any number of other gods or demi-gods. If you aren't using Google however it is hard to get away from them, their spokespeople, their marketing - however subversive it may be - or their word of mouth presence. You will succumb to the Google Crusade if you haven't already.An estimated 2.1 billion christians exist in the world today. That is around and about 1/3 of the worlds population. Wouldn't you say that is the greatest viral campaign of all time? I would.

Preaching, Indoctrination, Propaganda and Sheep

Let's be frank about this, we are all sheep of one kind or another. The christian, muslim, hindu, agnostic, atheist, google, mozilla, microsoft, opensource, closed source or any other source out there. We all subscribe to opinions, likes, dislikes and beliefs. It is thanks to this wonder of humanity that viral marketing is and always will be the most phenomenal way to market a product or concept. People like to below, to prescribe and subscribe to something.Coca-Cola, Nike, Google, Apple, Honda, Toyota, Pepsi and Microsoft are all some of the most recognisable brands in the world because there are people sharing the brands and associated products amongst their friends, family and social groups. Viral marketing is not a web 2.0 revolution in marketing, it isn't even a web concept. It's a practice that has been used for millennia to make people money, spread a word or punt a product. Welcome to the wonders of history repeating itself.

An Example: FAIL

The recent "FAIL" trend that has swept the web is the perfect example of a viral concept shared amongst social groups. Everything is a FAIL. It has become a cult that is practiced offline as much as it is online. It started with one simple fail and expanded in to blogs, websites, videos, songs and more. It has transcended race, gender, age, culture, technology and platform. People can fail online, brands can fail with offices, products, articles or just about anything that exists.Viral marketing is most definitely not a FAIL but many have failed at viral marketing.

Death Metal, Rap-hop and the devil made me do it

Satan has been in the news a fair amount over the past few days.

Krugersdorp - A schoolboy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death with a sword in Krugersdorp on Monday morning was apparently high on drugs, saying Satan had told him to kill the children...Krugersdorp councillor Alex Raubenheimer said school children on the scene told him the boy was high on drugs and was dressed like Joey Jordison, a drummer of the band Slipknot.source

I really enjoyed Chris Roper's post on the topic.I'm not sure if you've seen the movie "Primal Fear"? If you haven't, you should. Ed Norton and Richard Gere are fantastic.The basic premise of the movie is that an alter boy kills some people and uses his innocent, god-fearing "nature" to defend himself. This coupled with his apparent schizophrenia gets him off. He walks free.This isn't the same thing as stating that "the devil made me do it" ofcourse, but the premise is the same. It's the same as saying I am incapable of making decisions on my own so I blame the devil. The devil is intangible and doesn't exist therefore I need to make the concept real so I tell you that heavy metal is the devil's music. I can therefore blame the heavy metal for my actions and by association, blame the devil.{The way I see it (and I think this might ruffle some feathers) is that the devil does not exist. So in theory this is where my article should end, but for the sake of debate, let me continue.}Is this some sort of twisted philosophical logic that I just don't grasp? Why don't we blame the parents, the school system, the child, the child's friends and their influence on the child's life and actions? Why do we have to make it about themusic and single the music out as violent, aggressive and possible of warping a perception so much so that the child becomes warped in action?Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that an under-age child should be listening to music or watching films that promote violence, sexual promiscuity or any other illegal or dangerous action. But that is for the parents to regulate, you can't tell the music to stop playing itself if it thinks the child is under-age. That's just ridiculous.Furthermore, music can be intense, aggressive, cutting edge, loud, banging and harsh but that doesn't mean the lyrical content reflects that. I am deep in to rock music, old, new, heavy, soft, refined and raw. I love it all. But it doesn't all dramatically influence my action, choices, decisions and life. It provides me with insight in to what other people perceive the world to be.Let's step back 50 years or 40 years or 30, 20, 10 years in our history. Think back to The Beatles, The Stones, Queen (is the name a reference to homosexuality possibly?) and heaven forbid Elvis the once banned rocker and now the king of rock 'n roll forever. These bands all faced adversity in their time. Why? Because parents, teachers, headmasters, religious pundits and many other groups couldn't take responsibility for their actions, their children or their children's actions. Basically, blame the music for the uncontrollable and rebellious nature of our children.I thought we were meant to learn from the mistakes of our past? Are we not just repeating the actions of the ignorant and blind from the past by condemning the music and inadvertently pushing our children towards the messages that we are trying to protect them from?When I was about 11 I got in to Skunk Anansie heavily. I loved them. The lead singer was a bald black woman by the name of Skin. Skin. Do you honestly think that my Greek Orthodox (then) father was going to tolerate it? Not a chance. The first song on the album featured the lyric "Yes it's fucking political". Ha! I didn't stand a chance. Or did I? I made sure that the first thing I did when my father stepped out of the house was play that song. I credit that song alone for my political interest and for my degree in politics from Rhodes University. That Damned music, it ruined my life.

Here's a Skunk Anansie cutaway:No wonder I'm so messed up. This is what I was listening to at 11/12 years old and I haven't killed, maimed, harmed anyone....yet...dum dum dum dum

All that my father's harsh actions, forced law and pushy intention did was make me crave the message, the content and the music more. Get real, kids are smarter than we give them credit for. Nothing you do is going to make them stop listening to that music.I'm not sure if you've looked around lately, picked your head up out of your bible, book, "reality" or life and noticed how liberal the world has become. Take your blinkers off. They are playing "the devil's music" in clubs nowadays, they are playing that rock-metal-death-rap-craziness on the radio. The world has moved on. So why don't you?One murder happens involving teenagers and it immediately becomes anti-religious (as if the only thing that can save our children is god/religion) and name and blame towards the musicians. I listen to Slipknot, I have 16 year old female cousins who listen to them too, they aren't suicidal, on a murderous rampage or intent on harming others. In spite of their personal lives they are actually very well balanced cousins who make me proud. The music they listen to gives them perspective on the world not insight in to the devil's mind. This was one incident that occurred amongst a sea of socially uncomfortable youths who do not choose to murder. Let's look at the one case, not clump the entire youth of SA and their music habits as satanistic.I am not saying the research doesn't oppose my argument, it might, I don't know. But to be honest I am more than satisfied with blaming myself for my actions, my societal influences, my friends, parents or experiences but not the devil and his (her) music.Last point, if you want violence, turn on Carte Blanche on a Sunday at 7pm, turn on SABC 1, 2, 3 and e-tv news at 7am or 7pm every day, listen to the radio broadcasts about war, dishonesty, crime, violence at home and abroad, cheating politicians world wide and more. Music, let me tell you, is a fraction of our problem today.

Gareth Cliff's going to hell, I'll see him there

I cannot actually believe that I need to blog about this story, but I do.I just read this article, here's a snippet and then I'll continue:

Not my cup of tea. I am sorry to say that my estimation of Gareth Cliff has been lowered, for what it's worth, not for his views on religion - I am not surprised by uninformed and shallow approaches to a Universe filled with mystery! That happens every day! I am disappointed in the manner in which he dealt with this issue, and the ordinary listener who expressed her opinion in relation to his. Clearly he was dismissive of her, yet he wanted to have the right to have his opinion heard without challenge!

The irony of this comment is that Dion (the author) is doing precisely what he criticises Cliff for doing; being dismissive. What a load of rubbish.I have openly stated before that I am an atheist and have no issue with that. I am not ignorant, uninformed of shallow. In fact, I am well versed in christianity and have gone out of my way to educate myself. Why is it that in the eyes of a christian, any form of altering opinion is blasphemous and tantamount to condemning yourself to "hell".Get real, freedom of speech is the answer here and Cliff said and did nothing that should be considered bad. So he aired his views, would christians be pissed off he said god was great? If he said that christians were right? No, they wouldn't because it would agree with their view on the world. Obviously they are upset because his opinion is different to theirs. Simple.There is really no reason for them to send in hate mail and tell him that they are praying for something to happen to him to convert him to god. Please.So if Cliff is going to hell then so am I. We need to get over this religious elitism in the same way that we have overcome apartheid.Another post to read: Sarah Britten.

Facing the family when your an Atheist

Religion doesn't often feature on this blog, I am always very undecided about how people will receive my opinions on the topic.I battle enough getting people to buy in to my views on SA that religion is a fight I am not ready to have with most people. I say this because many people (mainly christians) are not willing to dicuss the matter rationally with me but instead choose to condemn me to an eternal hell.Just like this mom:

glumbert - Don't tell Mom you're an atheist

WOW this is one scary mother, literally. My mom is much more understanding about my religious choices or lack thereof.

Social Networks AKA dating sites and crap websites

I absolutely hate it when people talk about things without doing research or knowing what they are saying. I am sure I have done this on the odd occasion in the past but it still bugs me.I just read this post that talks about social network sites as commonly known as dating sites too. Since when? This post has such an air of "authority" about it that ignorant readers would actually believe this rubbish.Then the author proceeds to include god's plan for our lives including these "dating sites". The author then mixes things up by saying that one should join social networks (or dating sites) to network with people and make links to begin to build a network of people who can help you, over 3-5 years build the sort of life you want to lead. Uhu?What a load of hogwash. And this sort of revelation comes from a website that looks like this:It is very scary to me that there are actually people out there who are:1. Promoting this sort of crap site as something people can and should use2. Using these sites as their personal blogs.I have a feeling that this is a Guy Mclaren website. This guy (no pun intended) seems to be promoting the very worst of the web as the contemporary web styles. What is he thinking? Can he not see that his user system is rubbish and outdated? Why would anyone want to use this sort of platform when even the dreaded blogger is better than this platform?I am so shocked that anyone is registering for this service and this crap. Come on people. Wake up, make a stand. Don't use this rubbish.I will offer my somewhat inexperienced services to anyone who is thinking of using the rubbish service above. If you are thinking of starting a blog, email me and I will offer you some assistance on where to go and how to do it. Just as long as you aren't using the above services.

YouTube Meets God

...and then there was GODTUBE!Can you hack it? I must say that I think the creators of this site are probably going to be incredibly rich. The Christian faith is expansive and many are wealthy. As much as I will not be using this site for much, or anything for that matter, I do think there is a huge faction of people who will.Check it out as soon as you feel that you have found god. Godtube.com - Broadcasting him. hehehe