My first text, a magazine advertisement, would be distributed to a wide array of people at first. After that, it is unlikely that very many people will circulate that particular medium of text to their friends. However, word may spread in a similar fashion by word of mouth. If someone sees a tantalizing advertisement, they might check it out online. If they like what they see, they may tell their friends (or buy the product and show it off to their friends). In this way, the advertisement reaches many more people than just the people who actually see it, which I think is pretty interesting.
My second genre has far less potential to be heard. The genre is a speech given in the context of a member of a manufacturing interest group to other members of the interest group (or to politicians. I'm not 100% sure how interest groups work, but I plan on doing my research). The speech will likely only be heard by a couple hundred people at most and will not be circulated or discussed much in the public eye, since most interest group work goes unnoticed.
The final genre may or may not be circulated to the masses. I plan to write a scientific journal. Some scientific journals can gain rapid popularity when it regards an issue/discovery/invention that the public cares about. I believe that the topic, 3D printing, is interesting enough to capture the attention of the pseudo-author's peers, and possibly a small cross section of the public. It could also conceivably become one of those articles that get shared all over Facebook and other social media.
I believe that you can predict how popular something could potentially be and take measures to prepare for it, but it is ultimately unpredictable. For example, the majority of people who have posted viral videos on Youtube have said, "I had no idea is would be so popular". After the initial distribution, it's in the hands of the public, both literally and figuratively.
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