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of market analysis/segmentation and highly targeted
communications.

The social media companies collect data by offering a free service to
the nodes (communicating with friends, instant messaging, search
services that link a keyword to its use, access to potential employers)
and levering our practical and psychological needs (e.g., to get a job, to
be esteemed as measured by numbers of followers to encourage us to
fill in our profiles and form links), sell it with analytical tools
(graphical and cluster analysis) to commercial users (advertising,
promotion), and then provide a vehicle for communicating the seller's
message (placed advertisements and sponsored stories).

The Phenomenon of Virality

Virality is a phenomenon of social networks on the internet platforms.
It is the Holy Grail of modern marketing; virality is the hyper-rapid
diffusion of an item of information through the community. Think of it
as diffusion on steroids.

The viral transfer of a message occurs when many people
simultaneously forward a specific information item over a short period
of time within their social networks. To be truly viral the information
must spread rapidly beyond those personal networks to different often
distant networks (through hubs with large numbers of weak links)
resulting in a sharp acceleration in the number of people exposed to
the message.

A message can go viral regardless of the actual size of the audience;
some messages interest the general population others are of interest to
only a very narrow group. Additionally, some viral messages are
transient living only a short time others are enduring often recurring
for a further round.

Virality is not:

● Word of Mouth: Person-to-person recommendation, not

many to many, does not meet the speed and reach criteria

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