The Big Word Project was a website created by Paddy Donnelly and Lee Munroe, two Masters students from the University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In its first week, the project saw thousands of visitors and added more than 2,000 words, thanks largely to a glowing review by the popular blog Daring Fireball.

[4] However, an April 21 article in WIRED magazine[5] renewed interest, and on May 22, the word count passed 5,000.

[6] Paddy went on to research Viral Marketing, looking at how information is spread through word of mouth and the internet and how certain things can become phenomena overnight.

The project made use of a viral marketing campaign and relied on other people, primarily bloggers, spreading the word throughout the internet.