What’s Old is New Again for Viral Videos

The word ‘viral’ is derived from ‘virus’ and medically we know a virus is passed from person to person just like we share funny and interesting videos from person to person.  Medical ‘virus’ rarely die and they continue to be shared and can come back to the same person or close to that person who once had it.  Just the same way that a viral video can come back.  You know the ones that you saw months or years ago that are making the rounds again.

I find this idea very interesting, not that they are coming back per say, but where have they been and what or how are they coming back into your world.  In the moment when a video first goes ‘viral’ we assume that everyone you know sees it because you post it on your Facebook or Twitter or other social media.  If it was in my feed, why didn’t all my friends see it and think it was interesting, funny or touching when I did?  Where were they that day or week?  Living under a rock, sick, on vacation?  Maybe they just didn’t think it was memorable or worth clicking on at the time.

This is intriguing to me and it was brought to my attention over the past few weeks when some of the following videos started popping up again by friends and contacts, as if they were seeing them for the first time.  I remember posting them, along with many others, months or even years ago.  How did these videos with such great popularity miss some of these people?  How did they become popular again? Have they just been making their way around the world and are now making a return visit?  All very interesting questions, I think.

Tell me, when did you see these videos for the first time?

This video was first posted on YouTube on Feb. 14, 2011.  I remember it being hugely popular at the time.  It was on every news show and was probably the most popular video of that day, possibly week or even month or longer.  But a few weeks ago, a friend posted it for the first time for her and many people liked and/or commented on the video.  Where did the video go and how did it come back?

Then there’s this Michael Bublé video in which a mom gets Michael to bring her son up on stage.  It’s from Dec 14, 2010, but in the passed month it has been showing up in my Facebook feed by many different people, who don’t know each other.  When I first saw it pop up, I thought ‘oh Michael has done it again’.  Then I watched the video and realized that I had seen it years ago.  What made this video resurface?  Is it because Michael is in the news again with a new album or that he’s hosting the Junos this year or what?  Maybe some one was searching him and came across this feel good video and felt that we all needed to experience something good and nice?  I don’t know.  Do you?

 

And then there is this video, which I seemed to have been living deep under a rock when it was popular back in, I assume, Dec. 2010 when it was uploaded to YouTube.  How did I miss something so hilarious?  Or did I see it at the time and maybe the memory isn’t what it use to be and I’ve forgotten it. I really don’t know, as this one has definitely made its impression on me.

The idea of a viral video really doesn’t just pertain to its immediate growth, but its ability to hide away after its initial popularity and to find life again at the most interesting times and by people you assumed saw it the first time.

So, you never know when your video might find life and become viral.  It could be right away and then never again, or immediately and again years later or it will just find its stride long after it’s initially uploaded.

 

Memorable videos of 2012

2012 has been another great year of viral videos.  I’ve put together a blog of some of my favourites of this year (and maybe one or two from a few years ago).  Grab a drink and sit back and enjoy.  Please share your favourites with us!

 

 

And a favourite from 2010, but I only just saw it for the first time in 2012.

Please share some of your favourites with us!

Happy New Year and all the best in 2013!