Viral Videos

I have been excited to discuss viral videos for just about the whole semester. I’ll join the obsession and say I’ve secretly always wanted to make or be a part of a viral video. But just like most of us, that dream has yet to occur.

I wanted to know exactly what makes a video a “viral video”, so according to https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26863/viral-video a viral video is “…any clip of animation or film that is spread rapidly through online sharing.” I am sure that most of us have seen a viral video at some point in your life, and if you are like me and my husband probably search for them frequently to get a good laugh. In Techopedia they continued on to discuss how viral videos can be both intentional and unintentional. Recently in our class, our professor told us the story of one of his old students who had posted a funny video of his wife online, and it almost overnight went viral. Needless to say his wife wasn’t overly thrilled. An example Techopedia gave of an unintentional viral video can be found by searching Numa Numa Dance on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmtzQCSh6xk).

The first example that came to mind for me of an unintentional viral video, is the recent commercial for the squatty potty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbYWhdLO43Q. This video has over twenty million views, and took this company from a small start up to a booming powerhouse. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/video-viral-ad-features-unicorn-pooping-ice-cream-article-1.2447819 shares a little more background on this viral commercial and the companies history. The article stated that Squatty Potty was rewarded on the show “Shark Tank” from individuals who invested over $300,000 into the concept. I believe that this is where biggest difference in intentional and unintentional viral videos comes in, the money.

Creating viral videos has become a career for hundreds, probably more like thousands of people across the world. It is mind blowing for me to think that these peoples’ sole responsibility is to create unique and often hilarious videos that people every where want to watch. As I have mentioned throughout this article, most viral videos are pretty hilarious, but they don’t always have to be. There are plenty of videos that have become viral that share far more important messages. Take for example the “Basketball Cop”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6gPp4Ra4_g, video that has been a recent phenomenon. For me personally, I love viral videos and I think they are an ingenious way of sharing information.