These are the three streams of the Internet - communication, entertainment
and research. You go online to communicate, have fun or find some information.
The viral properties of each stream are quite different:
- Communication. This is perfect for viral. Think Hotmail, Twitter,
Skype and Facebook. The viral property is built into the service. - Entertainment. Think You Tube or Second Life or any online game. I
tell people about a really entertaining video. The viral property is weaker as
it depends on a stream of loss-leader hits. - Research. Google got viral adoption because the alternatives were
weak and it was a major problem faced by millions every day. As it was free and
dead simple to use, there was no barrier to adoption; but the viral spread was
only possible because it was such a big problem and it was so much better than
the alternatives. This happens very rarely.

