Kristine Taylor's Summer Experience
Posted by William Vaughan on Thursday, September 6, 2012
Wanted: One Viral Video, Please
The word “viral” is, well, viral these days. During my internship at Sifteo this summer, a coworker and I embarked on a mission to create a viral video. While we never actually made a video that “went viral,” I did pick up some insights on how to create one.
After spending a good chunk of a day watching videos of cats pouncing into boxes, men crying over rainbows and commercials shot in just one take, I happened upon a TED Talk that asked the question, “Why do videos go viral?”
Interestingly enough, the conclusion of this TED Talk is not a list of what elements your YouTube sensation needs to have to be worthy of being watched and watched again. Instead, it basically comes down to a video being interesting, unique and shareable. (Also, if you happen to get your video tweeted by a culture-icon like Jimmy Kimmel or Tosh.0, that’s an automatic “win”.)
Although these concepts seem simple, viral videos actually take a lot of work. Of course, there are plenty of viral videos of babies and cats that barely took any work at all. But companies don’t have babies or cats. Therefore, a company, in general, is going to have to put a lot of time and effort into making a video that is unforgettable, and more importantly, share-worthy.
Below is the video my coworker and I created. Although it didn’t go viral, it now has up to 555 views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMOPrw36nug
The word “viral” is, well, viral these days. During my internship at Sifteo this summer, a coworker and I embarked on a mission to create a viral video. While we never actually made a video that “went viral,” I did pick up some insights on how to create one.
After spending a good chunk of a day watching videos of cats pouncing into boxes, men crying over rainbows and commercials shot in just one take, I happened upon a TED Talk that asked the question, “Why do videos go viral?”
Interestingly enough, the conclusion of this TED Talk is not a list of what elements your YouTube sensation needs to have to be worthy of being watched and watched again. Instead, it basically comes down to a video being interesting, unique and shareable. (Also, if you happen to get your video tweeted by a culture-icon like Jimmy Kimmel or Tosh.0, that’s an automatic “win”.)
Although these concepts seem simple, viral videos actually take a lot of work. Of course, there are plenty of viral videos of babies and cats that barely took any work at all. But companies don’t have babies or cats. Therefore, a company, in general, is going to have to put a lot of time and effort into making a video that is unforgettable, and more importantly, share-worthy.
Below is the video my coworker and I created. Although it didn’t go viral, it now has up to 555 views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMOPrw36nug