Spreading disease vs. spreading content.
Which meaning of Viral is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Viral (infection) came first (the 1890s). Viral phenomenon arrived in the 1990s. The data below shows which one owns the word now.
Wikipedia pageviews since 2015
Viral (infection)Viral phenomenon
English Wikipedia pageviews since July 2015 load here.
Duplicate's share of attention
Green line = duplicate's % · above 60 it owns the word · below 40 the original does
The case for each meaning
Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes
Original · the 1890s
Viral (infection)
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Duplicate · the 1990s
Viral phenomenon
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More duplicated terms
Internet & gaming culture
Mirror · Mirror (computing)Leech · Leech (computing)Lurk · Lurker (online)Troll · Internet trollFlame · Flaming (internet)Spam · Spam (electronic)Crawl · Web crawlSpider · Spider (web crawler)Web · World Wide WebNet · The Net (internet)Feed · News feedHandle · Handle (username)Ghost · Ghost (disk imaging and ghosting)Link · HyperlinkPost · POST (HTTP)Like · Like buttonFollow · Follow (social media)Share · Share button