This is What a Viral Image Spread Looks Like

Much like the fungus of the internet, viral images and posts spread and creep across all social media platforms

Much like the fungus of the internet, viral images and posts spread and creep across all social media platforms. If you were to animate that spread, this is what it would look like:

This is the spread of the Marvin the Martian post that George Takei first posted on Facebook on August 6th. Since then it has gotten 179,250 Likes and was shared via Facebook 311,953 times. The video is produced by Stamen Designs.

Google Plus allows you to track your ripple effect (called Google+ Ripples) and visualize them in what look like petri dishes.

More from Smithsonian.com:

The World’s Closest International Relationships, According to Facebook
How A Facebook Experiment Increased Real World Election Turnout

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.