Viral Videos

I'm going to start this post with a few of my favorite viral videos, since I didn't get to share them in class. I'm going to start with glozel's "My Pushup Bra will get me my man":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkU2ch0sRI

Followed by "Scarlet takes a tumble" (It's a little long, but well worth it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Q5DcIoP0c

And I'll end with "Charlie the Unicorn". It's bit of a trip but was hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY

If you haven't guessed it, in today's blog post about our readings we're talking about going viral. I'm not too sure how I feel about companies who specialize in making things go viral. Rather it be a campaign, or a simple YouTube video, I feel like these companies are disrupting the realm of the internet when it comes to this kind-of stuff.

Looking back to ten years ago when the internet really began to take off, what were some of the most viral things on the net? The dancing baby, the numa numa video, and many others. These are what I remember growing up, but I certainly didn't see any advertising campaigns when it came to them. I think there's a big difference when it comes to viral videos aimed to make people purchase something, and viral videos when it comes to someone being stupid and me laughing. Personally, I don't care too much for advertising campaigns that are just getting me to purchase a product. A commercial is still a commercial.

In class we watched several different viral videos, a few of which were for the purpose of purchase, and a few of which were just for fun. I think the overall reaction of the class showed that we enjoyed the latter of the two much more, even though all were funny.

I do agree a lot however with the "rules" if you will of viral marketing, the biggest of which being don't push it and let go. You can't force viral stuff on to people, and at the least even billion-dollar companies seem to understand that. I guess it's something that's personal, but I just prefer the viral videos that make me laugh, and not sell something.