Topic: Viral Videos

Who hasn't seen any of the following videos?








These are just some of my favorite videos that have surfaced on the internet.

But what makes a video viral? According to Techopedia:

A viral video is any clip of animation or film that is spread rapidly through online sharing. Viral videos can receive millions of views as they are shared on social media sites, reposted to blogs, sent in emails and so on

What I liked about this definition is how broad it is. It can be animation or film, clip that is shared via many different routes. What I don't like, is how many view it says it must have to become viral. If we were to rank the most watched YouTube videos by simply numbers, all of them would be music videos. But I wouldn't consider them to be viral. Instead I think what makes a viral video is humor, easy to share, and short.

With Facebook rolling out their video ability a few years ago, the stats have shown that more than 70% of internet videos are being posted directly to the social network. (Fortune). This makes things a lot easier to share through social media.

But why do some videos go viral and others do not? Here's the breakdown from some research that I have done:

1. Psychological response: In order for a video to make it to the big leagues, it has to do one of three things to us psychologically: make us laugh, make us cry, or shock us. These three emotions are the strongest felt by a person and can motivate people to share to see what their friends think of the content. 
2. The right "sharers" see the video - Nearly 18% of internet users share videos at least once a week—and almost 9% share daily. If you can tap into this network of people likely to share things on social media, your video has a better chance of going viral. 
3. Timing: If you share a video on a Friday at 4 pm, chances are NO ONE is going to see it. But instead, time your content to go out on a Wednesday afternoon when everyone is trying to get over hump day. Research has shown that people are more likely to watch things when they are bored than when they are heading out. 
4. Have a message that everyone can relate to: Sarcasm, humor, anger, are all relative emotions. But if you can target your message to be funny, sad, or inspiring to a group of people, you are more likely to see results. 

Obviously the only sure-fire way (if I dare say this) to get your videos shared is just keep filming. You never know what your camera will capture.