TGIF

We have all heard and seen Rebecca Black’s song ‘Friday’ and the disreputable music video which holds the record with 1.27 million down votes on Youtube. Rebecca Black’s song is a contemporary example of virality. When media forms go viral it speaks to the way media texts are produced. With the emergence of the internet in the 21^st century, media spreads across social networks at a vast pace. Kevin Allocca defines viral as having three characteristics in order to become a cultural moment , he states “1)the content is introduced into the mediascape by a “taste maker” 2) community participation that creatively transforms original content 3) the content must be “unexpected” or novel. This concept of “viral” has existed dating back to the 18^th century through Thomas Paine’s pamphlet titled Common Sense.
                Power shifted from the production of media to the emergence of the internet which has changed the channels and modes in which content is distributed and shared. In the 18^th century media was produced, circulated and consumed just as it is now. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet declared his opinion and heightened the importance that America should separate from Britain (Standage, 144). In the 18th century, texts circulated differently to how media is distributed today. Common Sense was circulated through the publication of the newspapers and dependence on word of mouth. Paine’s creation of knowledge triggered mode of affect that related to other people’s sensibilities thus becoming focused on a goal revolving around emotions, this type of assemblage caused the ongoing circulation of letters, pamphlets, newspapers and new ideas to travel fast and become one of the first known texts to become viral.
                Modes of communication that are manifested in Paine’s pamphlet are also present in Rebecca Black’s music video and song Friday which not only has the same principles of Paine’s pamphlets but offers new forms of distribution through the internet. Friday’s infamous popularity is owed to participants who actively shared and circulated the song through social media that led to it’s virality, not only this but many remixes and parody of the song have been self-produced by users.  
                These two examples illustrate how social media and the different modes of communication attribute to media going viral in both the 18^th and 21^st century.