In the wake of one of the most viral videos to hit the internet, KONY 2012, I decided to examine a few videos and ask the question "What makes a video go viral?". AndPlus' CEO Sean Mahoney would claim that there is a science for a video to become viral, In which I would agree. It takes a few ingredients for a video to become viral. Dynamic Logics, an internet analytics company, studied this topic and concluded that the acronym LEGS can describe what makes a video viral.
· Something people can relate to · Totally Random (see Alabama Leprechaun) · Luck
Although these don’t make Dynamic Logic’s list i think they are also important characteristics that make a video viral. The total randomness of the “I like turtles” video is what makes it funny. The way that people have spread “KONY 2012” shows that if a video is easy to relate to and has a call to action that ea large amount of people agree with, it will soon become viral. So it should be easy to make a viral video, right? Not so fast. The nature of the internet as a whole, as a sharing ground for just about anything imaginable, makes it very difficult for a video to get noticed.That is where luck comes into play, (Basketball Trick shots) or unluckiness (Ice cream truck hit). Those examples are not exactly what i mean by luck. Luck comes into play in regard to the distribution of the video. In order for a video to go viral it needs to get into the hands of someone with a network of followers large enough that it can become an instant hit among many viewers. Now that we know how a video becomes viral, here is a list of AndPlus’ top 5 Viral videos. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bzE-IMaegzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6rPFvLUWkzs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ISzf2pryI&feature=player_embedded