What does the video footage of a pubescent-looking teenager with an unusually baritone voice singing about chocolate rain and a video recording of what sounds like a drugged-up hippie chronicling his sighting of a double rainbow both have in common? They are viral videos which have a greater number of hits on the video-sharing website, Youtube, than the population of Australia.
Of the seemingly mundane, to the downright outrageous, viral videos are constantly springing up with increasing frequency. This especially so with the exponential growth of the Internet and convergences in technology that result in cheaper and handier gadgets allowing for more of these Internet gems to be produced and uploaded.
With all that said, one does not simply 'make a viral video' (meme reference!). Viral videos often gain popularity much to the surprise of the producers of these videos. Of all the videos cached on the Interwebs, who would have thought that a video of a infant boy chomping on his older brother's finger would be able to garner more than 470 million views and 940,000 likes?
"Charlie, that really hurt!" Source: Youtube.com
So what then is a recipe of a viral video? They can range from the humorous, to the controversial, professionally made in a studio, or filmed with a camera-phone by the man on the street. There is no precise formula or equation for the makings of a viral video, it organically gains popularity through a series of sharing and likes from web-user to web-user. Much like the spread of a viral infection which lends its name to the term.
One thing that is certain about viral videos, however, is that there is a common element of human interest in them. Viral videos achieve the attention that they get because there is something in them which compels the viewer to stay on to finish watching the video rather than clicking on another link. Until the day scientists and brainiacs in lab coats are able to formulate them, viral videos will remain the holy grail for marketing practitioners and attention-seekers the world around.
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