SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING THE NETWORK VIRAL SPREAD OF A DIGITAL MEDIA CONTENT ITEM

Systems and methods are provided to track viral marketing. The resulting user interfaces can include a map that tracks propagation via a node tree or a geographic map that shows where media was viewed. The information may also be displayed as a cumulative or absolute tracking graph, which is based on various parameters, such as number of views, number of transmissions, rewards earned, etc. The systems and methods can track viral propagation through, e.g., email, social networking service or site messages or postings, and instant messages. Data used by the invention include URLs as received from a media transmission page form, the URLs pertaining to both the propagator and the recipient, time stamps at which the media was propagated and viewed, and so on.