Viral marketing has been used extensively to sell products and even win elections. In record time, it can distribute a message or concept to a large population of even a niche market. A Pew Internet study (2010) shows that of 2,259 adults, 75% who find news online receive it through forwarded e-mail or posts on social networking sites. Additionally, half of those adults will forward that same news to others. As learning professionals, we must consider whether this same communication channel can be used to improve human performance and learning effectiveness in a targeted audience. Even engaging CBT is often no competition for the barrage of information and communications channels available to the average learner. Learning must become an integral part of an increasingly multi-tasked audience who no longer has the time to get their news from the source, let alone volunteer to participate in web-based learning. However, one downside to using a viral approach to learning may be that once the learning objective is released, controlling the message can be problematic. This paper will explore the possibilities of using viral media as a tool for education, training and human performance. Some of the questions this paper will explore are:
• What is viral marketing and how does it map to education, training and human performance?
• What media are considered capable of making a concept go viral?
• How do you reach the right target market?
• Once the message is released, how do you maintain control?
• What are the pros and cons of using viral learning?
• What are good candidate topics for viral media?
• What are poor candidate topics for viral learning?
• How can viral learning be measured?