So I'm in a social media communication class and we have to do weekly blog posts, which I do on a different blog, but I liked my post this week about viral videos, so I thought I might share with you guys.
All of us at some point have seen at least one viral video. So what is it about these videos that attract us to them? To answer this question I propose that we take 3 viral videos, examine them, and see if there is any common threads. (For random information’s sake, this is called a genre analysis.)
All of us at some point have seen at least one viral video. So what is it about these videos that attract us to them? To answer this question I propose that we take 3 viral videos, examine them, and see if there is any common threads. (For random information’s sake, this is called a genre analysis.)
Let us start with what I would argue is the first
viral video. The numa numa guy.
So, I don’t know if this is the original link or not,
but it is at least a copy of the original video. But basically, it is a guy
mouthing the lyrics and dancing to a song on his computer.
Part of me would argue that if this had some out today
instead of 11 years ago it would not have gone viral. Back in 2004, when it
first came out, not everyone had access to a video camera, nor were there
millions of videos uploaded for public consumption every day, so the
competition was sparse. I believe it went viral because many of us as teenagers
made stupid videos like that in front of our computers, whether or not they
were uploaded to the internet or not.
But this video makes us smile and want to dance along.
My second video is one that I found in my musings on
facebook once and is an adorable duet between a father and his 4 year old
daughter.
I believe this video went viral because it was
refreshing to see a father with his daughter. They were just playing a song
together. It was another one that made us smile, even though it wasn’t intended
to be funny. They probably uploaded it so that extended family could see it,
never anticipating it to be seen by millions of people.
And my last viral video is one by a TV sketch comedy
called studio C, and this is their video called “Scott Sterling”
This video was obviously meant to make you laugh,
being made by a sketch comedy group. And or many people it did just that.
Obviously of the 3 videos this one has the highest film quality. However, the
interesting thing to not about this video is that they were actually in the
middle of pushing 3 of their other videos to go viral and this one just
happened to in the process.
So the common threads I have found amongst all of the
videos are the following, the appeal to us in some way, there is a fidelity
that we can relate to, be it when we were younger and made silly videos like
Numa Numa on our computers, watching a father and daughter sing together, or
that soccer is a very popular international sport. There is something familiar
to us in all the videos.
Another common thread is that all of them make us
smile. Maybe we don’t know why, but watching it brings at least a smirk to our
face.
Our friends must have also liked it or we would never
have seen the video being shared.
Also, most of the videos that go viral were never intended
to be viral, they happen by accident. And in face most people who go about
trying to make something viral rarely succeed. It is something that only the
public of the internet can deem worthy of being viral.
So next time you see a new viral video, stop and think
about why it might be going viral, see if you can find some common threads and
feel free to leave a comment below.
