Going viral!?!

Viral video? A video that becomes popular due to sharing of that video amongst individuals through various online methods. Viral videos are a relatively new, well as new as the internet has gone 'public.' Most viral videos are comical clips that people post online. People then watch this clip and decide to share. Most videos that go viral are created to be viewed by a very small group of close friends and family. Yet, even with this small audience in mind these videos blow up without the creator meaning for this to happen. Take the Star Wars Kid

, do you think that he wanted to be a viral video celebrity when he posted a clip of him acting as if he is fighting a hundred foe. But his video is fun. When you watch it you get the feeling that in that kids head he is fighting a hundred foe and having an epic battle that only he can 'see'.

A great aspect of video in the ever growing digital environment that we exist, is that, what you create can easily be changed or shared by anyone that is connected. Thats why many videos go viral, due to the ease of remixes such as these clips of Star Wars Kid:



heres one that someone did with clay figures:

Viral video's and their remixes showcase the new interaction that people can have with the media generated on the medium.

As the multi-million dollar entertainment industry tries to fight this new 'sharing' culture of the younger generations with the use of their money to fight the change rather than to adapt to it. A better strategy would seem to use the millions they are spending in court on reinvesting their money back into their business because the internet was made to share information to advance research for the DARPA program in the 60's. The way they shared data was similar to torrent's, the difference was that there weren't thousands of computers to utilize in order to speed the process of sharing packets of information up. Copyright infringement is a big deal, most people want credit for their creativity and want to keep it theirs, but most of the cases that are being brought to court are against average people who generally have no motive other than to share what they view as quality material.

Many have thought about the future of this medium, they are realizing that it no longer takes millions to produce an advertising campaign, promote an artist, a movie, or any type of product. Instead it takes a camcorder, a computer, connection to the net and some editing software to create something that can be distributed amongst millions of people. Many large companies have started to realize this and are now doing viral video advertising. The process is different than advertising in more traditional mediums. These ad campaigns are a crap shoot, in most cases.

So as we slowly adapt to these changes they are trying to figure out the 'formula' to exploit the medium in their favor. For my research I want to produce a video and try to make it go viral by utilizing all the various methods that are out there to do so. Such as hiring business that will get you thousands of views I want to document the process and see what happens if I can make a viral video and become part of 'popular' culture. There are many sides to what happens when you go viral and I want to explore the viral craze by actually making Livin in Dubtown's video go viral.

Along with making this video I want to capture what life is like in a small town, since many people describe it as mundane. I lived in Wamego and I use to feel the same, but as I recollect with friends about our time growing up I realize that our life was far from mundane. Many videos online contrast what people actually say about living in a small town small town. As Ive watched many videos I notice the varying perceptions of people from a small town especially the whole small town v. city life.

Heres some vlogs of people from small towns, talking about a small town, or taping their activities in a small town:

An Horse: Big City vs. Small Town.