Viral communication is one of the Internet’s most powerful features. What I mean by viral communication is a web site that encourages its visitors to invite other people to visit it. Through visits and referrals the site gains momentum and publicizes itself . . .

A great an example of a viral communication site and apropos for the day before the Texas primary is www.my2centsforchange.org . This morning I received the e-mail below from my 17 year old child letting me know that she has added her 2 cents on issues mattering most to her and encouraging me to give my 2 cents as well. This site is allowing her to feel a part of the political process even though she is not old enough to participate. The idea of getting our children interested in the political process and encouraging them to feel that they can make a difference is a phenomenal idea in of itself. As a principal in an interactive design and development firm I also see a very well executed viral communication campaign.

Let’s take a few minutes and analyze what this site is doing right. My experience began with the initial e-mail letting me know that my daughter has sent me 2 cents. Instantly my curiosity was piqued and I opened the e-mail. The e-mail pictured above is very fun and visually appealing and encourages youths to visit the site and send the e-mail to their friends. The e-mail explains the purpose to the site and encourages youths to participate in the political process.

The e-mail set the tone for the site. The site is a interactive Flash application where the visitors are engaged by clever animation from the moment they visit.  The landing page is picture below:

The menu is doodled on the palm of the hand as shown below when the hand was moused over. The site’s agenda is clearly to get today’s youth to share what is important to them.

The fun and interactivity continues when I went to “View Others 2 cents”. First they begin by presenting a detailed instruction guide, pictured below, letting me know how to use their animation. I feel as though I am getting the instructions to play a video game!

Next, I’m able to scroll through a series of wells that each represents different social issues. At a well I can choose to either add my 2 cents or peek inside to find out what others are saying about that particular issue. The instructions and main menu are still visibly accessible which makes this application very easy to use.  Each well tallies how many cents have been added to it.

If you choose to “Peek Inside The Well” an animation appears that gives you the sense of going down into the well. Once inside the well you can view the two cents that have been added to the well and click on the two cents to view the teen’s comments. As you would expect privacy is maintained by only giving the first name and last name initial along with commenter’s age.

I also felt that the way that the web site collects profile information was very compelling. Pictured below is Step 1 of the process of adding your 2 cents. You will note that instead of selecting choices from menus to describe your sex, religion and political beliefs the visitor can profile themselves use icons. It feels less intrusive than radio buttons or pull-down menus and is fun to use.

Once visitors have entered the issue that concerns them the most and their 2 cents they can actually select candidates to have their concerns sent to as pictured below.

The result is a message that will be e-mailed to the candidates with the youth’s concerns:

And finally I would like to point out how well the viral aspect of this site is executed. Pictured below is how easy it is for teens to forward this to multiple other teens.

This web site is an excellent example of a viral communication campaign. The key elements are

* A strong and compelling message
* Engaging presentation and interactivity suited to the audience
* Ability to forward to friends
* Consistent and easy to use navigation

I applaud this site for encouraging our teens to let their voices be heard. I also wish that the voting machines are designed as well as this site!

Jill Bach
MarketNet Principal