Plague is a new social networking app with a fun twist that could just work.

Plague is all about discovering "viral" content, but the way you discover the next viral video or hilarious photo is what's unique.

Instead of seeing posts from people you follow or whatever is trending, a post on Plague is designed to spread much like a virus in real life. Whenever a user submits a funny picture or video, it gets sent to the four Plague users closest to that person, who can either pass it along to the four closest Plague users nearby, or strike it down and stop the spread.

It's a fun concept, and it means that every Plague users has a chance to see their post gain traction. It doesn't matter how many followers you have (since there aren't any), so it all comes down to the quality of the content.

You can see how many people have passed along a post along with any comments, but the app only keeps track of the original poster, the rest of the time you can just anonymously flip through nearby posts and either swipe upwards to pass it along or downwards to stop the spread.

In an age where all social media sites seem to be converging into a Facebook and Twitter hybrid, Plague sets itself apart with a twist that's both fun and levels of the playing field, which should encourage more posting rather than lurking.

To try Plague out for yourself, you can download it for free over at the App Store.

(via Gigaom)