Videos going viral today is a way for our society to be connected. These videos going viral are like sharing within our culture; viral videos are important because they cause inspiration within our society to build upon the ideas that have already been created. Media platforms are an easy way for people to share their emotions and energies. The popularity of the internet make it easy for sharing, viewing and liking of videos to happen. As we saw in the Ted talk web videos become famous by three things; first through taste makers, then communities of participation and than unexpectedness. Truly unique and unexpected videos are funny and amusing to the audience and since the audience defines the popularity these videos are most popular. Media platforms in the 21st century acts as anode of communication within our society to keep us connected and creates meaning.
In the 18th century their was circulation, distribution and consumption of media just as there is now but it was not as important as a concept as it is now. The production and distribution in 18th century were different due to the lack of internet abilities. The taste makers of the 18th century happened very differently. Thomas Paine pamphlet was called for the immediate independence of America, he believed separating from Britain was key (Standage, 144). In 18th century there was no sharing of information or videos online which meant that Paine’s pamphlet would depend on how many times the news paper would be reprinted. Word of mouth about letters mentioning “Common Sense” was how a pamphlet gained popularity and attention. Common Sense inspired heated commentary in the newspaper, from both supporters and detractors (Standage, 145). Due to Paine’s ideas the circulation of letters, pamphlets, newspapers and interchangeable ideas facilitated colonies around common sense and thus enabled the beginning of information going viral.
Hot line bling has been a huge viral phenomenon lately. Their has been upwards of 20 different viral memes off of Drakes dancing. This video shows perfectly how our society works with tastemakers, communities of participation and unexpectedness. His dancing was something unanticipated by society which made it hilarious to watch. One person made a video and then communities of people started to participate and make more videos. Salsa music was added to his dancing, another video used the name of the video to be creative and added the number of dominos, plus their music to the video. It is obvious that the increase of technology has changed the way we communicate and made it easier to share information and gain popularity among people. Technology has allowed us to produce, distribute and circulate information much easier than back in the 18th century and therefore allowed our society to grow beyond our previous expectations.
Hey Nadine!
ReplyDeleteI just want to start off by saying I think that you made an excellent point by saying how viral videos are important in todays society because it is a way for us to stay connected. I have friends who live across the world and the Internet has enabled us to stay connected not only through social media, but through viral media. Videos blowing up and being appropriated in various ways such as Hotling Bling gives me something to talk about with friends and family. Furthermore, I agree with you on the fact that media platforms are a convenient way for people to share their emotions and energies, although sometimes I think some people share too much on social media. But on the other hand, sometimes speaking out about emotions such as Essena O’Neill speaking out about her ‘perfect’ Instagram account is informative for the audience, especially young teenage teens. Its fascinating to think how someone how across the world decided to one day destroy her Instafamous career to speak out and spread a message. In addition that messages was able to reach people all over the world in a matter of minutes.
As you mention there word of mouth was a common way to communicate messages in order to make them ‘viral’ during the 18th century. I think that even though people now a days depend on the Internet to make things viral there is still some form of word of mouth that is present. For example, when I see something funny on the Internet that I think my mom might enjoy I would tell her about it and then maybe show her on my phone since the chances of her seeing the viral video without having any social media accounts is slim.