Kevin is a trends manager at YouTube. In this TED talk he says videos go viral because-
- Tastemakers i.e. people with an audience and influence spread the word by tweeting, blogging, mentioning on TV etc
- Communities of participation form around it. This is when others add to your creation by creating their own versions, parodies etc
- Unexpectedness – I suppose by this he means originality with an element of surprise
Interesting observations. What strikes me is that all three are inherently outside the control of the original creator. You could get (read pay) tastemakers to tweet it, but I’m pretty sure it will not have the same effect as if they did so out of their own volition.
Brainchatter 