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Is there a there more positive sounding word to use in place of 'viral' or 'contagious', in regard to an idea or campaign?
The campaign relates to women's safety issues and sexual harassment.
We want the empowering message to be 'contagious', go 'viral', 'spread'.
All these words relate to sickness though. The campaign is one of social healing, so words like 'viral', and 'contagious' don't sound right. 'Spread' is better.
Any other suggestions?
1.1 Develop rapidly and successfully:
ODO
verb
[NO OBJECT] Increase rapidly in size, intensity, or importance:"the campaign was snowballing"
ODO
verb
[NO OBJECT] (often as adjective burgeoning)
1 Begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish:ODO
The etymology of burgeon suggest new life:
early 14c., "grow, sprout, blossom,"
from Anglo-French burjuner, Old French borjoner "to bud, sprout,"
from borjon "a bud, shoot, pimple" (Modern French bourgeon), of uncertain origin.
Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *burrionem (nominative *burrio),
from Late Latin burra "flock of wool," itself of uncertain origin.
Some sources (Kitchin, Gamillscheg) say either the French word or the Vulgar Latin one is from Germanic.
The English verb is perhaps instead a native development from burjoin (n.) "a bud" (c.1300), from Old French.
Our campaign is burgeoning!
From Wiktionary:
The idea :
is propagated ...
2.(transitive) To cause to spread to extend; to impel or continue forward in space; as, to propagate sound or light.
3.(transitive) To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate
5.(transitive) To generate; to produce.
is disseminated ...
1.(transitive) To sow and scatter principles, ideas, opinions, and errors for growth and propagation, such as seed
1.To impart 1.(transitive) To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.
2.To Share 4.(intransitive) To express or convey ideas, either through verbal or nonverbal means; to have intercourse, to exchange information.
broadcasts ...
1.cast or scattered widely, in all directions
gives out ...
1.(transitive) to utter, publish; to announce, proclaim, report.
The campaign is :
Fig. [for something] to spread rapidly.
Disseminate or circulate very quickly.
Quickly affects or becomes known by more and more people
publicising the idea that ...
1.(transitive) To make widely known to the public.
letting out the idea that ...
1.To release.
(Not much better than viral, but it means essentially the same thing.)
Thrive, Flourish, Bloom come to mind.
All of them refer to something developing swiftly/vigorously and in a healthy manner.
There is nothing negative about the term viral when the context is music, communication or the Internet. When a YouTube video goes "viral" it just means it has attracted a huge number of visits in a very brief period of time. Nobody turns their noses up at a viral piece of information; on the contrary, when a video or advertisement is said to be viral that in itself will attract even more visits.
A campaign that has become viral on Twitter, is a successful campaign.
At this point, my impression is that the metaphorical use of "viral" has become so widespread that it doesn't really carry negative connotations from its literal meaning. Nevertheless, when you're talking about a message or idea, rather than a fad or funny video, I'd say you want your idea to catch on:
to become popular: this idea has already caught on
Resonate means that a sound gets stronger and stronger as it echoes. It is often used to describe ideas that people like and spread.
