What makes a video go viral?

CrazyPUA said:
Psy is really famous in South Korea and he was way before he came out with Gangnam Style. I know for a fact because I watch Korean Series and he is special guest in a bunch of them.
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Ah! Thank you! Well I can tell you a lot of people in France think he got famous because of his song on youtube, but that he wasn't famous at all before.
 
One thing I would suggest: stop looking at viral videos as "bad." You obviously didn't like Harlem Shake or Gangnam Style, but that didn't mean they weren't valuable enough to a lot of people to invest time and credibility in. Maybe they weren't to your taste, but if you go in with the mindset of "these suck, why did they go viral," you aren't going to learn from them. Analysis requires an open mind.

Harlem Shake has two sections: one guy dancing stupid near people not paying attention to him, then all of them dancing. This happens in 30 seconds. It's weird, it involves costumes, and appeals to the "I wouldn't ever do this!" part of western societal training. It actually appeals to shame, if you ask me. The sharer thinks "I personally would feel shame if I did this so watching others do it makes me laugh and feel like I am better than them." In a way, sharing a Harlem Shake video likely started out as a means to laugh at those idiots for doing that stupid thing, then people got in on the joke and it transformed into more of a positive "IDGAF we are doing this!" fad. Then celebs got into it and the same people who shared because they felt better than the people in the video likely were either mad because it caught on or happy because they felt relieved they can also do funny things, because their favorite ____ also does.

Gangnam Style is on the surface, utterly silly. It's a lot of different scenes that don't really appear to have a context. Upon further inspection, you (should) start to realize it is a critique of people who fancy themselves upper class. The lyrics are obviously irrelevant due to being in Korean, and most people not in one of the Koreas don't speak it. There is more to Gangnam Style than meets the eye, though, and I think most people recognize this at very least on a subconscious level. The beat, however, is one that you will remember later, as are the utterly ridiculous scenes like the humping elevator guy. This video, I believe, was shared due to positive sensory overload. So many silly or unfamiliar things happen in the video in a rather short time, it is hard to criticize with anything other than "this sucks." Which isn't a valid criticism, and strengthens fans of something's resolve about liking it. When is the last time someone told you something you like sucks? You probably thought they were a jerk and ended up liking what you like more.
 
You brought up a good point with your original post. Not everyone is interested in all of the viral videos, but the ones that hit a mark generally start with a small audience that massively share it and everyone checks it out.

I think timing is very important. If the video covers a recent event and the poster can get their idea out first, it will get that initial boost of views.
 
You didn't find Psy's Gangnam Style different from a lot of the other videos out there? Reminded me of Eminem's "My Name is" when that video first hit MTV, everyone was talking about it at lunch. Same thing with Psy's video, it's got a dance element everyone wanted to copy and was easy to do, you have a dressed up chubby guy goofying around, trying to be rich or live like he's from Gangnam going to expensive, luxury places hoping to meet the right girl (horsetracks, tennis clubs, spa's, etc) only to find her in the subway so there's social commentary. And it doesn't hurt that the hook in Korean it sounded like "open condom store" in English either.
 
vyau said:
You didn't find Psy's Gangnam Style different from a lot of the other videos out there? Reminded me of Eminem's "My Name is" when that video first hit MTV, everyone was talking about it at lunch. Same thing with Psy's video, it's got a dance element everyone wanted to copy and was easy to do, you have a dressed up chubby guy goofying around, trying to be rich or live like he's from Gangnam going to expensive, luxury places hoping to meet the right girl (horsetracks, tennis clubs, spa's, etc) only to find her in the subway so there's social commentary. And it doesn't hurt that the hook in Korean it sounded like "open condom store" in English either.
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Also there is a gangnam style parody called "hot dog condom style" lol
 
Wow so many responses thank you everyone.
PeterCoffin to be honest those two videos I mentioned original Harlem shake and gangnam style I watched them once, didnt understand and came out like "what was this? I don't get it?" Which is probably why I didn't like them.
On another note other Harlem shakes like the one in the office was funnier to me because of the settings. The original one I felt like I was watching guys thrust their p***s for 30 secs and didnt find that enjoyable. Probably should have said I don't like those type of videos.
For GS maybe I should have watched it a lot to reanalyse it and the story but I didn't do it[DOUBLEPOST=1366776964,1366776873][/DOUBLEPOST]
William Phan said:
You brought up a good point with your original post. Not everyone is interested in all of the viral videos, but the ones that hit a mark generally start with a small audience that massively share it and everyone checks it out.

I think timing is very important. If the video covers a recent event and the poster can get their idea out first, it will get that initial boost of views.
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Thanks for replying William!
 
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