viral marketing

An online advertising approach that functions somewhat like word-of-mouth. The "viral" refers to how quickly it propagates, but its purpose is not to cause damage like a computer virus, but to make an offer available to the masses. The ad is disseminated via links in e-mail, blogs and Web sites that all point to some service or product people might want, whether free or paid.

The term has been attributed to venture capital firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (www.venture-capital.com) after its investment in Hotmail grew dramatically. Hotmail automatically put an advertisement at the end of everybody's e-mail message suggesting they too sign up for the free service. In a year and a half, more than 12 million people became Hotmail users.

Send This to a Friend
Links on articles that say "send this to a friend" are another form of viral marketing. When the recipients receive the article, they are encouraged to sign up for the service. See viral video and sneezing. See also viral programming.