Maybe I'm missing something here but doesn't the very concept of a "viral video" stop working and becomes simple PR once you've declared that you have made a viral video?

What I mean is you make a video and release it onto the net and it gets popular (hence viral) or it doesn't.

But declaring something you've made a "viral video" doesn't make it viral, it just makes it obvious that you don't understand what you're doing.

"Check out this new viral video I made" translates into "I've made a commercial, but I want to appear hip on the internet so I will call it a viral video instead".

Monstar I like your stuff but sure you realize the very point of something being viral is that it doesn't demand any promotion as it spreads itself through it's own merits.

A video that goes online and spreads like wild fire through sharing is said to have "gone viral"

Viral videos spread themselves if they are any good, they don't need to be promoted as viral, it's disingenuous.

Toms videos are simple self promotion, commercials. They don't have the entertainment or humor value that make them worth sharing (like a virus).

They certainly are videos and Tom certainly is in them but we'll see in a year or two how presumptuous it was to call them viral videos instead of amateur self promotional videos.

Mentos and coke = viral. Numa Numa guy = viral. Star wars kid = viral. Tom at a trade show with music overdubbed sitting at a table with Ron Jeremy... I'm not sure what is supposed to make me want to forward that to my friends.