I don't have any viral video skills, just a discerning eye. I was using the kids at YouTube as an example of the rapid evolution of memes, some by design. Here, let me give you two examples of "viral blocking" from YouTube:
This first one is ineffective, to say the least, at blocking the very simple "Jesus is better than Satan" meme, which is, of course packaged with the "Jesus and Satan are real" meme:
I could write a thesis about this second one. Is it making fun of the first video? Is it mocking the idea that Satan is better than Jesus, or that Jesus is better than Satan? Or is it mocking the whole concept of Satan and Jesus as real? Or is it mocking itself?
That's the beauty of this simple satirical piece. It's doing all of the above. In the process it's blocking memes by undercutting the very concepts, and having fun while doing it. It even manages to slip in a dig at tv watchers and subtly cross links an aversive meme (Satan) to the primary vector of toxic memes (tv), thereby also setting up a block to tv watching. It's brilliant, really.
Unfortunately, this particular video hasn't "gone viral" as they say. But that's because the whole idea of religion and religiosity isn't that important to most people under the age of 35. If they were duking it out on "the interwebnets" over religion, this video would have hundreds of thousands of viewings, simply because people would be looking for videos on Satan.
Here, on the other hand, are two videos that work together to block the social toxic meme, gay hating/bashing. Again one is in response to the other and reinforces the message, this time through delivery in the second video from a very attractive woman. These two, as you can see from the number of viewers, have "gone viral":
I think you get where I'm coming from. First, even the best blocking techniques do no good if the topic is a yawner, like religion. Second, people are out there doing it effectively, and they're doing it by presenting it to people in ways that they want to hear.
If you guys want to study memes, you should dip your toes in this stream and others like it. If you want to actually make a difference, you should take what you learn about what is working real time, and apply it as your skills allow.
Laura
« Last Edit: 2007-08-25 12:53:07 by David Lucifer »
Re:Viral videos
« Reply #1 on: 2007-09-10 02:55:44 »
[Blunderov] This video was so damn brilliant that it went viral all the way into the mainstream where cellphone giant MTN picked it up for its South African advertising campaign.
"On July 31, 2006 the band released a video in a similar vein for "Here It Goes Again" featuring an elaborately choreographed dance on treadmills, also directed and choreographed by Trish Sie. This video was viewed by over one million people on the media site YouTube in the first six days. As of the end of August 2007, the original video upload for "Here It Goes Again" has been viewed over 21 million times, putting it in 11th place for the most views of any video and 3rd place for most favorited video of all time on YouTube. If the statistics (for) all copies of the video on YouTube are tallied together, the video has been viewed many more times."
Re:Viral videos
« Reply #2 on: 2007-09-10 15:37:45 »
Quote:
Laura: Here, on the other hand, are two videos that work together to block the social toxic meme, gay hating/bashing. Again one is in response to the other and reinforces the message, this time through delivery in the second video from a very attractive woman. These two, as you can see from the number of viewers, have "gone viral":
I don't know yet how viral it may prove in the end, but here is one that has already been appreciated in another Church of Virus thread touching on homophobia.
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