It's something I think about maybe a little bit more than I should. What is it about a boy being bitten by his baby brother that makes the internet go crazy? Or how a looped video of a poptart cat flying through space and pooping rainbows can be so mesmerising?
Obviously there are a number of factors, Kevin Alloca (Youtube's trend manager) identified many of them in his most recent TED talk. The three most important being:
- Trendsetters
- Communities of Participation
- Unexpectedness
With over 48 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every minute, what is it that makes one cat video stand out from another?
Well American rapper Yung Jake tries his best to both explain how videos go viral and go viral himself with his most recent rap song 'e.m-bed.de/d'. Described by the Fast Company as a 'meta-commentary on the act of going viral' it's a truly amazing watch.
He's clearly put a lot of thought and effort into it. I would embed the video on here but it's definitely better to experience the full effect on the specially made website, designed to look like a Youtube page, that hosts it.
As the video plays, various webpages relating to the song pop up at appropriate moments in the narrative. You can watch the Youtube views go up whilst you watch the video, view Justin Bieber's twitter mention of the vid and see 'The Daily What' announce the 'Yung Jake of the day' next to the video.
Ironically enough I was unable to find the video on Youtube. I suppose having only been uploaded a few days ago it's unlikely to have gone viral yet, but with a mention from the Fast Company hopefully it's only a matter of time for Yung Jake to experience the real viral treatment.
If not, the maybe virals are harder to understand than is possible for a cleverly put together video and rap song to convey.
Yung Jake - e.m-bed.de/d/ http://e.m-bed.de/d/vid.html
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