phrase
Going Viral
Spreading rapidly across the internet through sharing.
Origin
The biological metaphor (viruses propagate by copying themselves) was applied to chain emails in the 1990s, then to videos and posts in the 2000s. Jonah Berger's 2013 book Contagious crystallized 'viral' as marketing vocabulary. The phenomenon predates the word — 'fame' has always spread person-to-person — but the internet's scale made the medical metaphor land.
Modern usage
Standard for any content with sudden reach. 'Almost went viral' is the consolation prize of online creators.
Tags
spread
internet
fame