Viral communication method is shown to be useful for spreading messages in social media. However, only few studies have investigated how public organizations use this method successfully to promote their works in social media. To fill this gap, a qualitative analysis on data from observations and interviews has been conducted. The purpose of this study is to answer a research question: how can a government succeed in promoting their works in social media by using viral communication method? The results found several processes and factors that support the fruitfulness from three perspectives: the messenger, the message and the environment. Moreover, it is pointed out that the most important process is creating memorable messages. Therefore, this study proposes essential characteristics of memorable contents.

Title: Digital christmas greetings - the viral communicators, public sphere and democracy(Digitala julhälsningar - de virala kommuniktörerna, offentligheten och demokratin)Number of pages: 41Author : Anna-Sara TorgnysdotterTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse : Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring, semester 2010University: Devision of Media and Communications, Department of Information Science,Uppsala UniversityPurpose: The purpose of this study is to see if social media could be an arena for the usersto increase democracy and the public sphere. Studying the role and possibilitys of the individual.Is there a space for any one to act and debate?Method: A qualitative analysis based on interviews with ten users of social media - viralcommunicators. They were discussing public and private sphere, democracy, norms andbehavior in social media.Theoretical platform: The theoretical basis has its roots in sociology: Ervin Goffman´sidea on self-presentation and social interaction, Manuel Castels´ theories of the networksociety and Jürgen Habermas idea of the public spehere.Main result: The viral communicators are ambivalent in their use of socialmedia. They are users because they want to be but also because they feel forced to - professionalor private. Their primary aim in communicating in social media could summarize“self-expression”.The users of social media talks contradictivly about their feelings wheter they feel safe orunsafe in the social media situation.They talk about lacking time to debate on the internet and they feel confused about what´sprivate and whats public.Social norms and unwritten laws rules communication in social media and the loosening inpublic and private sphere creates confusion about to whom and where you communicate.This results in avoiding messages that might offend or harass. Because the viral communicatorscommunicate with a broad group of people, including every one - from your cousin toyour boss - there is a vague idea of the tolerance from the target audiences and therefor themessages tend to be very conservative and safe.The viral communicator uses that public arena the social media offers like traditional postcards. A christmas greeting to keep in touch and stress their prosperity and wellbeing.Keywords : Social media, viral communication, Habermas, Goffman, Castells, publicsphere, private sphere, social norms, unwritten laws

Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T14:10:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Matheus Matsuda Marangoni.pdf: 4833409 bytes, checksum: df69910f0f497433c878820a10bd3586 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-23 / YouTube is currently configured as a platform to launch the so-called viral marketing, among other uses. This piece of research investigates the development of actions designed as entertainment and advertising produced to generate content that spread like virus over the Internet. Considering that the phenomenon of viralization necessarily implies a certain amount of unpredictability, this study analises successful campaigns such as Pôneis Malditos, VW The Force and Sem Papel examining their production strategies and the logics of reception and consumption. In the intercross between production and reception that is typical of this type of communication in the digital environment, we find developments in the form of spoofs, quotes and other related productions whose development was monitors. We hoped that study can contribute to furthering our understanding of this type of action in the current media scene. / O YouTube configura-se atualmente como plataforma para lançamentos da chamada comunicação viral, dentre outros usos. Esta pesquisa investigou o desenvolvimento de ações publicitárias concebidas como entretenimento e produzidas de modo a gerar conteúdos que possam ser viralizados na internet. Tendo em vista que o fenômeno da viralização implica necessariamente em certa dose de imprevisibilidade, parte-se do estudo de campanhas bem sucedidas como Pôneis Malditos, VW The Force e Sem Papel do Banco Itaú, examinando suas estratégias de produção e lógicas de recepção e consumo. No intercruzamento entre produção e recepção que é característico desse tipo de comunicação no ambiente digital, encontramos desdobramentos na forma de paródias, citações e outras produções conexas cujo desenvolvimento a pesquisa monitorou. Espera-se que este estudo possa contribuir para ampliar nossa compreensão dessa modalidade de ação na cena midiática atual.

Notre thèse interroge la notion de communication virale dans les espaces socionumériques de manière générale et plus particulièrement lorsque ce phénomène s’applique aux vidéos publicitaires en ligne. Nos recherches ont révélé un manque évident de clarté et de cohérence au niveau de sa définition et de son acception (Beauvisage et al., 2011) qu’il a fallu corriger par un travail d’harmonisation avant d’envisager la suite de nos travaux. De plus, notre revue de littérature a mis en avant la complexité du phénomène viral et de son appréhension ; complexité nourrie par le nombre et la nature des facteurs à son origine (Beauvisage et al., 2011). Afin de mettre en avant un de ces facteurs, nous émettons pour première hypothèse que les variations de qualité de la définition (haute ou standard) d’une vidéo influencent l’appréciation de la vidéo (H1). Par corollaire, nous pensons que le partage de cette vidéo est affecté par la qualité de la définition (H2). Plus précisément, nous pensons qu’une même vidéo sera plus partagée si elle est visionnée en haute définition plutôt qu’en définition standard. Pour répondre à ces hypothèses nous avons opté pour une approche expérimentale. / Our thesis examines the notion of viral communication in digital social spaces both in general and when applied to online video advertisement. Our research revealed a lack of clarity and coherence in its definition and meaning (Beauvisage et al., 2011) that necessited an effort of standardization before planning to pursue our work. Furthermore, our literature review pointed out the complexity of the viral phenomenon and its comprehension. This complexity is due to the number and different factors originating the viral phenomenon (Beauvisage et al., 2011).In order to highlight one of those factors, we make the first hypothesis that the variations in the quality of the definition (high or standard) of a video have an effect over the evaluation of the video (H1). Corollary, we think that the quality of the definition affects this video sharings (H2). More precisely, we think that a video will be more shared if it is watched in high definition rather than in standard definition. In order to meet those hypotheses, we opted for an experimental approach.