What makes videos click onlineIJ Who knows!
There should be a specific reason why people chose me… They didn't choose me because I'm handsome, they didn't choose me because I'm muscular,” the stocky South Korean rapper Psy recently told students at Harvard University. The popstar who rose to international fame last year, with his hit single, Gangnam Style, eventually surmised that “… the reason why they chose me (is) because I have fun with the music, with the dance, with the video”. While that might be the case why his song, with its catchy beats and unique choreography, inspired many across world to shake a leg, it does not entirely explain the phenomenon that ‘Gangnam Style’ has become. After all, there is a lot of peppy music that is made around the world all the time (think of American teen sensation Justin Beiber's Baby which was overthrown by Gangnam Style); so, what was it about this particular Korean music video that it attracted an unprecedented billion hits on the video-sharing website YoutubeIJ Nobody really knows yet, and the basic question remains: Why do some videos go viral onlineIJ Take, for instance, the other Youtube video, Charlie Bit My Finger, that was uploaded in May 2007 and is still the most watched non-music video. People from around the world have seen more than five million times one-year-old Charlie bite his three-year-old brother's finger and then break into a broad grin, and for some inexplicable reason, the viewers just can't seem to get enough of the adorable English boys. And yet, there is no dearth of cute baby videos online. Remember the brutally honest three-year-old who told his mother that he only likes her when she gives him cookies and does not like her all the timeIJ This is not even to include the equally heart-warming baby animal videos that also go viral so often. There is scarcely a cyber citizen who hasn't broken into a bewildering laugh as a quiet baby panda sneezes so suddenly and so loudly that even its mother is stunned.
And if millions have been charmed by the little ones and their delightfulness or have been carried away by the rhythmic beats of foot-tapping music, an equal number has gravitated towards the ‘dark art' of humour. American stand-up comedian Jeff Dunham may have appalled many with his politically incorrect video, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, but his excellent satire on jihadis has had tens of thousands across the world in splits. In the same league is the spoof on Adolf Hitler — based on the 2005 German film, Downfall, depicting the Fuhrer's last days — in which he is portrayed as a bawling baby instead of a much-feared tyrant, which has entertained millions. And, there is of course the much admired and equally criticised Kony 2012 campaign video. It touched a chord worldwide and aroused the activist in many of us, even as it went on to become the fastest spreading video of all time.