If you’ve got a Facebook or a Twitter account, then there’s no way you missed the viral Kony video, produced by the charity Invisible Children. It spread across the web like wildfire this week, as the Charity hopes to bring Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the violent, child-recruiting Lord’s Resistance Army, to justice.

The viral film, with tens of millions of views in yesterday alone, was even given an official accolade by the White House yesterday.

However, the campaign has also invited criticism against Invisible Children, as skeptics and activists have voiced concerns about the methods used by Invisible Children, its allocution of funds, and the idea that the video promotes ‘slactivism’ (the self-deluding idea that by sharing, liking, or retweeting something you are helping out).
Regardless of where you stand on the video, it provides an interesting case study for the ‘bounce effect’ we see between traditional media and social media.

The relationship between traditional media and social media continues to evolve, a symbiotic connection that fuels ‘viral’ campaigns like the #StopKony initiative. We call it the ‘bounce effect’ because stories bounce from social media, to traditional, back to social (and not just necessarily in that order).

Is an online trend truly indicative of what people really care about, talk about, and think about in real life? Or is it just a way to kill time during the day and make yourself appear altruistic? How many Kony 2012 tweeters, sharers, and likers will actually engage offline?

The answers to those questions will vary depending on who you ask, and it also remains to be seen how many #StopKony supporters will actually get involved offline. But it’s clear that some stories are ‘bouncier’ than others – meaning, they jump from social to traditional media easier and more quickly than others. So what makes a bouncy story?

• Sheer mass of interest. Widespread online conversation, celebrity support, shares, clicks, and likes.
• Numbers. The video has been viewed more than 64 million times.
• A human element. The Kony video is human-interest at its core, not just by disparaging the cruelty of Kony himself, but also by highlighting the love and hope filmmaker Jason Russell’s has for his own son to grow up safe and free.
• Controversy. The video campaign is certainly not without controversy and criticsm. Skeptics, fact-checkers, and traditional media outlets question Invisible Children’s accuracy of information, organizational model, and allocation of resources.

It goes without saying that the Kony video is the perfect storm of online bounce. Only time will tell how the bounce effect will play out between traditional and social media, but the Kony video certainly highlights how pervasive the bounce effect really is.