What made the Kony video go viral? What is the return on investment? And how should CIOs ?

Why Kony Worked and Why it Didn't

Kony 2012 was the brainchild of Jason Russell, filmmaker and cofounder of San Diego-based Invisible Children, a group whose intent is to end the violence of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony through mass awareness--in short, to make Kony a household name.

By that measure, the so-called social documentary was an unqualified success. In just six days the video garnered over 100 million views, making it the most viral video in history, according to Visible Measures, a social video analytics firm.

But in the days following the video's viral explosion, Invisible Children took hits from critics who said the video misstated the facts about the current level of violence in Uganda, and the relative threat of his militia forces, among other claims. And because of the personal nature of the video, Russell himself took some fairly personal hits.