Wired: How the Word Gets Around

A Brandeis University senior tried to quantify how an idea - called "memes" by the pompous - spreads across the net via blogs. He seeded a few and watched it take off, quickly becoming one of the fastest spreading links on the net. His link is merely a simple page with an explanation of his data seeking efforts. But the study spread so quickly in part due to its novelty, and it's uncertain how representative this might be to other communications, much less marketing messages.