Monday, 9 November 2015

Going Viral - Blog Post # 3


The way the Internet has created opportunity for medias to go viral is just a way our society is developing and trending towards a completely digital world. The way videos go viral very significant to the development and sharing tactics our culture and society uses in order to share ideas and thoughts with one another. These new mediums and media platforms make it easy and efficient for users to generate content, or share videos that have already been generate in order to share interests. Ted talked about how web videos become famous through three things tastemakers, communities of participation and than unexpectedness.  When videos are creatively made and have a sense of uniqueness its allows people to be amused, and taken by the way the video provides something different for us to view, that isn’t part of the norm usually.

The 18th century obviously did not have the technologies and medias that we presently have today and because of this it leads to the lack of technologies and other resources available in order to facilitate a greater means of production, distribution and circulation. Although these concepts did exist, they were not as heavily emphasized or given the importance that they are given today. Common sense was a concept that was given much significance in the 18th century. The idea of common sense could be presented through the ideas and information that was available in a newspaper, or pamphlet that was widely circulated. The 18th century did not have an internet, a world wide web to share thoughts and ideas with whoever participated in it, instead word of mouth was they way messages were circulated, and this is how pamphlets and news papers gained popularity and attention. This knowledge that was known as common sense was debated, inspired both supporters and non-supporters. The circulation of letters, and newspapers, as well as ideas and thoughts, created a opening for societies to be created around the concept of common sense, and this idea of common sense and the information associated with it enabled the beginning of concept of information going viral. The pamphlet created by Paine which was titled "common sense" inspired people to fight for independence, and explained advantages of this independence which drew a large following of support. The pamphlet was read out loud, but created a movement, that in today's words went viral, due to the fast method of circulating the message and information Paine had put in his pamphlet. 

There a lot of viral videos today, from pranks, to music videos, to police chases. Videos of different sorts are made viral, and this shows how society function through many different tastemakers, not just specific ones. There are many types of different viral videos that can be related to different contemporary societies we are part of. Videos that students can relate to may not be in the same community of participation as videos older adults would find interesting or amusing. The example of the “do you even lift bro” videos made by a YouTube celebrity went viral after they were first released. This was one of the first viral video sensations that I was able to see grow and create trends for years after it was posted. The video did not have much attention from any major networks, or any major media outlets that helped increase views or numbers, it simply resonated with a community of people who went on to share it and slowly the video was viral. This started when I was in high school, and the saying still lives today, maybe not as popular as it was when it first started, but it gained the views and viral sensation that the hotline bling video many others are discussing in this blog. The obvious increase in technology, and the ability to generate viral videos as easily as it is today, has created a lot more users that participate when it comes to discussing videos that have gone viral. The tastemakers that make these videos connect to the different viewers and users that see the video through the ability to amuse them through it. This creates communities of active participation, and ultimately provides the unexpectedness that we as Internet users can see in some of the trending viral videos that are out there today. 

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