Holonic virality - a term I've recently coined - has been increasingly on my mind. It's not the typical 'NPC' virality, where every impression of a content piece counts equally. Don't get me wrong, NPC (non-player character) virality has its place, it's a common and understandable way to gauge the relevance of an idea or a content piece. But I think it falls short in one important aspect - it assumes that all impressions are created equal, and that, I believe, is an oversimplification.
Let's say we have a piece of content that's been seen only ten times, but each viewer is a billionaire or a head of state. Now, if we need these highly influential individuals to act on the content's call to action, then even with such limited exposure, that piece is bound to have a more significant impact than something seen a million times by people with little to no power to act on it.
This is where the idea of holonic virality comes in. This form of virality prioritizes the spreading of content or ideas among individuals with significant power and influence over influential “holons”—communities, cities, nation-states—and thus the future. It's about impacting key opinion leaders, city builders, visionaries, and those who hold sway over large communities. These are the people who can take an idea and shape the future with it, and so, the content created for them must have the potency to influence their decisions and actions.
When I talk about holonic virality, I'm not just speaking about reaching individuals, but entire communities of practice. If an idea can catch on amongst the leaders of various communities, it's achieved holonic virality. A good example is the idea of a network state - an idea that's now buzzing amongst people with the potential to create startup cities and network states.
Remember, the goal here isn't to have these ideas trend on mainstream news channels, where viewers might not have the resources or power to act on them. Instead, holonic virality focuses on reaching those who can indeed shape the world with their decisions and actions.
So, if you've got an idea or a content piece that you believe can influence powerful people's decisions, then what you should be aiming for is holonic virality. Not to dismiss NPC virality - it has its value. But to make a real impact, your content should ideally resonate with key opinion leaders and visionaries. After all, history has shown us that even a small group of coordinated individuals, who each have a lot of power, sharing the same influential ideas, can substantially shape the world.