Why Videos Go Viral

Thesis: Reasons why videos go viral

Purpose: To entertain the audience with a presentation on why videos go viral

Introduction

As a specialist in public relations, I feel best suited to deliver this speech on the reasons why videos go viral. Most people in the world want to be famous. That is a basic fact that cannot be argued with. This is something that seemed hard to achieve some time ago. However, this is a trend that has changed, over the years, due to web video. People can now become famous within a span of one week. This brings us to the major question in this speech; why do internet videos go viral? YouTube can be used as an illustration. Every minute, about 48 hours are uploaded in YouTube. However, only a tiny percentage of this goes viral. Therefore, it is important to discuss why these videos go viral.

Unexpectedness

Just the other day, a four minute video of a guy laughing, while viewing the rainbow, had 5,000,000 views on YouTube. At the same time, there are other videos that may seem to be worthy of such views, yet they do not achieve this. This shows that there is great value in unexpectedness. People on the internet want to see things that they do not expect there. They prefer to view videos that cannot be predicted. That is how such funny and short videos go viral. It is a technique that has been repeatedly used by celebrities. It shows creativity, as well as captures the attention of people on the internet, at a glance.

Tastemakers

There are people in the society that act as tastemakers. This means that they have the ability to engage in activities that command a lot of support and following, from people all over the world. These are people that can make everyone want to be associated with something. A recent example is that of Rebecca Black with her song, ‘Friday’. This video did not have views at first. Later, its views shot up and it became one of the most watched videos on YouTube. However, there is one interesting aspect to these findings. The days when the views were highest were always Fridays. This shows that the song raised awareness of the importance and amusement that comes with Friday. This is an ideal example of how tastemakers manage to have their videos go viral. From these findings, it is clear that videos do not just go viral. There are vital factors that contribute to this every time that it happens.

Conclusion

It is now clear that there are specific reasons and factors that contribute to a video going viral. This does not only shed light on the matter, but also creates great interest in people who would like to be famous. As my research has shown, there is a great need for creativity in these videos for this to happen. This explains the mystery of why some videos go viral, while others do not get that privilege. It also explains the reason why people are inevitably attracted to some videos and not to others.

References
Bell, C. R., & Patterson, J. R. (2011). Wired and dangerous how your customers have changed and what to do about it. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Beyond Viral: How to Attract Customers, Promote Your Brand, and Make Money with Online Video (2010). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Espejo, R. (2007). User-generated content. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press/Thomson Gale.
Reichert, T. (2007). Issues in American advertising vol. 1 sex, politics and viral videos. Chicago: The Copy Workshop.
Scott, D. M. (2011). The new rules of marketing & PR: how to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.