The Power of YouTube
by Ali Birston ~ March 24th, 2011. Filed under: Comm 296.Fun Fact: If nobody ever posted another video on youtube you would need about 1,700 years to watch everything currently on the site!
It’s mind boggling to think that YouTube.com was only founded in 2005 as it is now so incredibly popular that watching a video on youtube has become just about as common as checking your email. Originally started to share videos that were too big to send via email, this website now enables millions of people to upload videos and share them with the world.
After reading Beverly Cheng’s blog post titled “Viral Videos” I was baffled when I considered the power of youtube and the ability of videos to go viral within hours. I completely agree with her comment about the risks of using these types of social media, however, I also think that the benefits certainly outweigh the potential problems. While for Rebecca Black’s “Friday” music video, she was getting attention for all the wrong reasons, there are also cases where talent has been discovered (massive success story: Justin Bieber) and brands are being promoted positively. In my opinion, youtube is a key channel for marketers to consider when developing their promotional strategies as it is free and has the potential to reach consumers all over the world.
So what is it that makes a video go viral? That is the key question that marketers must answer, however, unfortunately there is no exact formula. Videos that have had record-breaking views such as the “Charlie bit my finger” video are often quite odd, cute, or plain hilarious and make people want to share them with their friends and social networks. If marketers can successfully tap into the minds of their consumers to figure out what motivates them to watch and share a video and/or what makes them laugh, then they are well on their way to creating the next big youtube sensation!
Photo from: http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2010/03/youtube-24-hours-of-video-uploaded-every-minute.html