Talk:Viral video/Archive 1

Archive 1

'Cyberbullying' = POV/sensationalism

This article has a section labelled cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a phrase primarily used in the media in a fairly sensationalist manner. The use of that phrase is a more or less fear mongering bit of POV/sensationalism.Skrelk (talk) 08:36, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

What phrase would you prefer to use? I think the fact that cyberbullying is talked about so much in the media warrants its inclusion in the article. Jeisenstat15 (talk) 02:41, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

Proposed merger of viral video with viral marketing

These are in fact different things. For example, users of FORscene can Bluetooth their own videos virally between mobile handsets, with no marketing in site. Stephen B Streater 06:33, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Oppose. Viral videos are becoming more not lessn notable. TV Genius 23:52, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Oppose merger. There's some crossover between viral videos and viral marketing but these are two separate issues. The intention with Viral Videos is not marketing (although marketing can subsequently arise), whereas the intention with Viral Marketing is marketing first and foremost. Marketing can impinge upon many aspects of culture, for example Lady Gaga's telephone video with Beyoncé advertised various products via product placement, but this video was not a piece of Viral Marketing and neither was it a Viral Video, although due to the high amount of views (87 million 17th Oct 2010) there is some crossover of categories. Lady gaga is nevertheless a pop-star. Lady Gaga is a phenomenon in her own right despite her videos having characteristics of Viral Marketing and Viral Videos. Likewise Viral Videos is a phenomenon in its own right, distinct from Viral Marketing despite sharing some aspects with Viral Marketing.

Website list

Since the list of websites has been taken off, should an article be created that lists the viral video websites that have an article on Wikipedia? 71.31.147.210 01:05, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

This sounds like a good idea, if there are sufficiently notable viral videos to have articles. Can you give more than one viral video with an article? Stephen B Streater 06:08, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Mostly the ones that were a part of the external links. Stupid Videos, EBaum's World, Google Video, YouTube, Metacafe, Revver, Ifilm. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.31.154.84 (talk • contribs) 02.56, 26 June 2006

I suggest we add internal links rather than external links in a see also section. Stephen B Streater 06:22, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Marketing vs Non-marketing uses

I've added a "Marketing uses" section and merged the "Non-marketing uses" section into the main text. Most of the text in the article was about the non-commercial kind (or use-neutral), with only a couple of sentences mentioning marketing in passing (and one of those was *in* the "Non-marketing uses" section). Hopefully it makes more sense now; otherwise, there should probably be both sections (though perhaps use "amateur" instead of "non-marketing uses"). --Sabik 04:34, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

• Some figures the BBC have just reported regarding the most popular viral videos.--Ear1grey 23:55, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Inline with the flag "This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page." I am going to remove entirely the section "Advertisement and business" because it is already covered by Viral marketing in the see also section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.185.71.181 (talk) 11:39, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Product Placement??

The explicit mention of only FORscene for a video editing somewhere seems rather strange. I don't do much video editing, but it would appear to me that people doing amateur editing would the program that came with their web-cam, or Windows Movie Maker since it's on pretty much every PC out there. Consider mentioning other entry-level video editing software, or remove the mention of FORscene. I've put a advert tag for now since I don't really know which is the better option. Headbomb 05:07, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

First Viral Video?

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker? SnaX 13:45, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

While not the first viral video, I'm surprised that there's no entry for "Metallica Air Drummer", Kevin Dabbs. That was late 90s, very early. Perhaps I'll do a separate entry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.172.25.195 (talk) 00:39, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Inconsistency in deletion of articles

User:Bfigura flagged The REAL Rudy for deletion. Yet, there are over 20 viral videos listed on the viral videos article, including a porn-sharing site. Yet, only The REAL Rudy was flagged for speedy deletion. Dogru144 03:22, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Rv of censored material

An editor censored the following: I have restored content, sans the party's name: signed, Dogru144 03:25, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

has moved to delete The REAL Rudy on Robert Greenwald's viral video immediately upon its posting. The move to delete the article was made with no justification on my talk page or on the talk page of the article.

The {therealrudy.com} web site is politically significant. There are hundreds of google accessible hits as the result of the google search for it. The move to delete the article is probably politically motivated, as it is inconsistent with the survival of other viral videos. Note that there is existing commercially motivated material, such as the Ron Paul Dollar, promoted on the wikipedia page for Liberty Dollar. Yet, this has not been deleted. Dogru144 23:15, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Examples of other viral videos that have not been deleted

• I Got a Crush... on Obama
• Fox Attacks: Obama

The above is an example of a viral video that has not been deleted. Dogru144 03:25, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I've removed the Fox Attacks: Obama wiki link because it's not a "viral site". DHN 16:59, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

WP:POV in removal of video sites

Editors have not explained their removal of sites. Excepting User:DHN, users have not explained their removal of sites from this page.

They have not explained how some videos qualify as viral videos and other do not. This arbitrary removal of viral video listings is apparently POV. Dogru144 22:24, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Added new section "Notable viral videos" & information on "2 Girls 1 Cup"

I added this information as I felt it relevant to the article and also as I could not find any information about this on Wikipedia, and also due to it being a combination of two memes, somewhat a first? (feel free to correct me), I created a new section as the information wasn't relevant to the previous sections, feel free to make edits accordingly for readability, flow etc. Thanks. DBAlex 19:17, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

"Don't Tase me Bro"

Some questions about this section.

1. We read:

According to The Washington Post, Meyer's question turned into "an increasingly agitated three-parter."

Isn't this a POV way of expressing what happened? What's the need to cite this phrase?

2. We read:

He uses the word blowjob at one point and is forcibly removed by police

Why are we emphasizing the fact that he used the word "blowjob" as if it was the reason why he was arrested?

3. Why do we link an incomplete video instead of this?

--Pokipsy76 (talk) 22:59, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Proposed addition

I think we should add to the list of the notable videos also the video about Christian the lion. What do you think?--Pokipsy76 (talk) 08:25, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

i agree. i'm new to wiki editting though, so whoever is in charge of this page should add Christian the Lion. i counted the YouTube hits for the several videos out there and they are way over 20 million. that's for youtube site ALONE! impressive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tay m1 (talk • contribs) 21:25, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Notable videos section

Unless someone can scrounge up sources to show what's "notable" about each video in this section, the entire thing should be deleted, because as far as I can tell these videos aren't "notable" in terms of having had any real-world impact, but only in that one or two Wikipedia editors happen to like them. Unless someone comes up with some specific inclusion criteria, the whole section needs to go.

For example, the students who made the Back Dorm Boys videos have gotten a 5-year contract with a talent management company; and some viral videos produced by Brave New Films have had a direct impact on John McCain's 2008 US presidential campaign. Neither of these are included in the list of "notable" videos, although they have apparently had a greater real-world impact than many of the videos that have been included.

Finally, the section is full of poor writing and self-references; if it is ultimately included, it still will need to be cleaned up. —Politizer ^talk/_contribs 18:55, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

2 days and no objections, so it's bye-bye to that section. I just removed it all from the page; i'm pasting it in here in case someone wants to work with it somehow (although I think much of it is simply beyond help; I inserted some comments about which ones are clearly non-notable):

Notable viral videos (alphabetically)

{{Notability}}

Afro Ninja

Afro Ninja depicts a man with an afro wielding dual nunchuks. He smiles at the camera and attempts to do a backflip, landing hard on his face. He tries to stand but is clearly impaired by the fall. The other people in the room ask him if he is ok and offer aid. The man in the video is Mark A. Hicks. He is a stunt man that was auditioning for a role. During an interview with radar online he states that he got the part after attempting the stunt again, successfully[1]. View it here: 'Afro Ninja' Non-notable, doesn't even attempt to establish notability.

Aleksey Vayner, Impossible is Nothing

In October 2006, Yale University student Aleksey Vayner applied for a job with UBS AG. Amused by Vayner's apparent puffery, an unknown member of UBS staff emailed his application materials to other investment banks. They were soon posted on various blogs, then YouTube, from where they became an immense viral Internet phenomenon. Probably non-notable, nothing quantifiable here, only one editor's vague statement that they "became an immense viral Internet phenomenon."

Buffalax

Buffalax (real name Mike Sutton) is a mondegreen director on YouTube who uploaded non-English music videos which were edited to include subtitles of the written English approximation of the video's original language's sound. These include Internet memes such as "Moskau",[2] "Tunak Tunak Tun",[3] "Indian Thriller",[4], "Boten Anna",[5] and "Benny Lava",[6] which have been viewed more than ten million times in total as of May 2008. Maybe notable because of decent ref given, but could be better sourced and have more description of real-world impact or popularity. (Overall views not a good measure of popularity.)

Bus Uncle

The Bus Uncle is a Cantonese Youtube viral video clip of a quarrel between two men aboard a bus in Hong Kong on 27 April 2006. While the older man (Chan), who came to be nicknamed the Bus Uncle, scolded the man seated behind him (Ho), a nearby passenger used his camera phone to record the entire incident to provide evidence for the police in the event of a fight. The resulting six-minute video was uploaded to the Hong Kong Golden Forum, YouTube, and Google Video. The clip became YouTube's most viewed video in May 2006, attracting viewers with its rhetorical outbursts and copious use of profanity by the older man, receiving 1.7 million hits in the first 3 weeks of that month.

The video became a cultural sensation in Hong Kong, inspiring vigorous debate and discussion on lifestyle, etiquette, civic awareness and media ethics within the city, eventually attracting the attention of the media around the world. Haven't checked the refs, but probably notable: includes multiple mainstream sources that are specifically about the video, and describes how the video had a real-world impact beyond just the internet. This should be a model for other entries.

Chocolate Rain

"Chocolate Rain" is an original song sung by Tay Zonday. The song originally was posted on YouTube in Spring of 2007. The song was greatly publicized by various online forums and Tay Zonday was brought onto many shows, including Attack of the Show and Jimmy Kimmel, due to his popularity. The song was written by Zonday about Black history, which he confirmed in a special he did for Dr. Pepper. However, the song became popular because of Tay's low voice and his peculiar facial expressions. As of September 2008, it has been viewed over 28 million times. Non-notable: this entry seems to be more about the song than the video.

Crazy Frog Bros.

The Crazy Frog Bros. (as they are known on the internet) are 2 boys who lip-synced the Crazy Frog version of the song Axel F. The video on Youtube has been viewed over 10 million times and has spawned a parody of the video showing them supposedly 15 years later. Unfortantly, they have since been removed "due to a copyright claim by a third party" Non-notable; YouTube views alone can't establish notability, there is no way of keeping track of unique views.

Deaf Jeff

In September 2008, a student of Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois did a small documentary on Deaf Jeff. Deaf Jeff is a person who is deaf who went through life's hardships and obstacles and overcame all the odds to become the person he is today. The video is famous for showing people that despite what limited ability they have, their abilities are unlimited. The video may be viewed here: 'Deaf Jeff'. Non-notable, the only thing even trying to establish notability here is one editor's saying "this video is famous and great," pretty obvious POV violation and possible COI.

Don't Tase me Bro

The University of Florida Taser incident, which occurred on September 17th, 2007, involved student Andrew William Myer speaking to Senator John Kerry during a Constitution Day forum held at the UF campus. The video begins shortly before Myer demanded to be allowed to ask a question to Kerry. According to The Washington Post, Meyer's question turned into "an increasingly agitated three-parter." He uses the word blowjob at one point and is forcibly removed by police who proceed to tase him as he resisted. During the video, Myer screams "Don't tase me bro!" View it here: 'Don't Tase Me Bro' Maybe notable because it was mentioned relatively widely in mainstream news. Find more refs.

Downfall

Clips from the 2004 film are subtitled in English with references to Hitler getting angry about Australian Rules Football, online gaming, the Super Bowl, US presidential elections and etc, even the downfall of Morris Iemma. The clips mostly show the scene when Hitler realises he can not win the war, but other scenes are also beginning to be used. This meme is current in late 2008. Versions in languages other than English including Dutch and Malaysian have appeared and there are German overdubbed versions of other Downfall clips with parody scripts Non-notable, doesn't even try to say anything about notability.

La Caida De Edgar (Edgar's fall)

[7] A video that was particularly popular in Latin America was that about a 6th grade kid who was crossing a river by walking atop of an improvised "bridge" made out of logs, he is being teased by someone and then pushed to the river. It later turned out that the video was shot by his cousin, and all the kids in the video are cousins of him. While a cruel joke, Edgar became a celebrity to the point where people in his school took him out of class to get autographs and pictures. Maybe notable if you get a ref about people's taking him out for autographs, but I doubt it—if we included every viral video that got some person to be recognized by strangers, we would be including tons of non-notable videos.

Little Superstar

"Little Superstar" is a video of Thavakalai, a short Indian actor, break-dancing to MC Miker G & DJ Sven's song "Holiday Rap", in a clip from a 1990 Tamil movie Adhisaya Piravi, featuring actor Rajnikanth. As of May 2008, the video has been viewed more than ten million times.[8] Maybe notable since it was apparently mentioned on some news things, but it depends how it was mentioned. The Olbermann ref, at least, doesn't really say anything notable about it, it just says that Olbermann watched it.

Numa Numa

Numa Numa is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos, particularly Numa Numa Dance by Gary Brolsma, made for the song "Dragostea din tei" as performed by Moldovan Eurodance band O-Zone. Maybe notable, since it has its own WP article, but still needs sources.

This Is Sparta! ~Another Techno Remix~

A scene on the movie 300, where King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler) kicks a Persian into a pit while saying "This is sparta!" was musically remixed by a user by the name of Keaton. Shortly after, TownIdiot25 made a short video using this music, along with several clips of Gerard's head on top of random .gif images, including scenes from My Name is Earl, Night at the Roxbury, and others. After only a year, this video had over 16 million hits on YouTube alone. This video can be viewed here: 'This is Sparta! ~Another Techno Remix~ Non-notable; YouTube views alone can't establish notability, there is no way of keeping track of unique views.

"Thriller" by Filipino Prisoners

1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice choreography from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. The video can be viewed here:'Thriller' Non-notable, this entry doesn't even try to say anything about notability.

Treadmill Cats

Cats on treadmills, in which a cat or cats on a treadmill walk or do interesting things, have become popular among many YouTube viewers. An example of this type of video is 'Treadmill Cat'. Non notable, not even quantified in any way.

What What (In the Butt)

What What (In the Butt) is a viral music video for an original song sung by Samwell. As of October 2008, the video has been viewed over 17 million times on YouTube alone. Non-notable; YouTube views alone can't establish notability, there is no way of keeping track of unique views.

—Politizer ^talk/_contribs 14:03, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Admin help requested

{{adminhelp}} Could an admin please use WP:REVDELETE to remove this serious BLP violation: [9]. Thanks. Robofish (talk) 00:29, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Done. Thanks for bringing this up.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:35, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Pre-Internet viral video

Were videos viral before the Internet, via the underground tape-trading network? Example: the “Farting Preacher” video, in which fart noises were dubbed into a Robert Tilton video. Felicity4711 (talk) 02:15, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

In which case, what is the difference between a viral video and a popular movie? Not saying they'd be the same, but what is the difference? Just a question of budget?24.84.229.90 (talk) 05:34, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

"regardless of its content"

Viral videos are necessarily propagated "regardless of its content"? I mean, as far as the definition is concerned, does the definition regard the human intention in sharing as detached of intention and as simply a host, like the definition of "meme" denotes?

Pietro 24.84.229.90 (talk) 05:37, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

：I don't understand the question. rʨanaɢ (talk) 06:47, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Friday, Rebecca Black

Why hasn't Rebecca Black's song, Friday been included as a Viral Video yet? It deserves first mention

Why does it deserve mention? Most weeks, there's a new internet meme/wide-sweeping viral video. Our purpose here is not to list every one of those (there's plenty of other places on the internet to do so). What makes this specific video worth mentioning in a general discussion of the topic? Qwyrxian (talk) 23:41, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

I think suggesting including "Friday" is probably a case of Wikipedia:Recentism, although it is remarkable in at least one sense - having more dislikes on YouTube than any other video ever. Dcoetzee 02:29, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

"Notable viral video sites"

I just removed a bunch of entries from this list because they seemed to be a) not notable; b) not viral; or c) not specifically focused on video and similar media. If anyone wants, it may be useful to create a new article, List of viral video sites, and link to that from this section using {{main}}; that way we can keep this section short, and include more sites in the alternate article. Here is the content that I removed:

• Albino Blacksheep
• Blip.tv
• Break.com
• Broadcaster.com
• Collegehumor.com
• Dailymotion.com

• WasteHours.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dk40k (talk • contribs) 22:23, 23 July 2012 (UTC)
• Funny or Die
• GodTube
• GoFish
• Google Video
• Heavy.com

• iFilm
• JibJab
• Kewego
• LiveLeak
• Metacafe
• MSN Soapbox
• MySpaceTV

• Newgrounds.com
• Pandora tv
• Putfile
• Revver
• sevenload
• Stage 6
• The REAL Rudy

• Veoh
• Viralvideos.com
• vMix
• Weebl's Stuff
• Youare.tv
• YouTube
• 4chan

—Politizer ^talk/_contribs 13:45, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Break.com should definitely go back up. Many mainstream viral videos shown on TV and whatnot often have the Break logo at the bottom left. Plus, the site is just pretty much dedicated to viral videos, and it gets many more views than some of the others sites listed. Albino Blacksheep? I haven't even heard of that in about four years.--68.186.200.37 (talk) 21:41, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Everything you just said is original research as far as Wikipedia is concerned. Show us a real source that says that, and maybe I'll consider it. —Politizer ^talk/_contribs 23:17, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

I suggest the website...black20.com. They are dedicated to bringing the best in virals on the internet and receive great praise from popular websites like ign.com. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.160.200.233 (talk) 02:30, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, but unless it's notable then it can't be added, no matter how dedicated it is. rʨanaɢ ^talk/_contribs 02:33, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

External links

I was asked at my talk why I reverted this edit which added a mytagtv.com external link. The general situation is explained at WP:EL: in short, articles here are supposed to provide an encyclopedic overview of a topic, and external links are limited to certain sites that aid the reader with an understanding of that topic. Wikipedia is not a directory of interesting links. One reason this rule is followed is that there is no practical limit to what external links would otherwise be added to articles. If a reader wants to find current viral videos, they should try a search engine. Johnuniq (talk) 10:16, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Johnuniq, thank you for explaining why you reverted this edit. I light of that external links are limited to certain sites that aid the reader with an understanding of the topic, my addition might still be as valid as the two other additions (Viral Video Chart Guardian News, UK. and Photos Gone Viral! — slideshow by Life magazine). Why are these two additions not removed? To stay at the topic, you may fine MyTagTV better illustrating the topic because it has language filter and time filter; the other two sites do not have this, nor the social context from tags (if you click a video on MyTagTV the social context is loaded). And even "Photos Gone Viral! — slideshow by Life magazine" doesn't show videos at all, but aims at photo's.

Next to all of this, the two other sites have tons of advertisement, MyTagTV has none. I find the criteria for getting added a bit vague at the most.

The key difference is that The Guardian and Life magazine are both respected mainstream news sources, while MyTagTV is a random, non-notable (as far as I know) website. Furthermore, MyTagTV (I took a look at it) simply tells what's trendy right now on Twitter, video-wise. But that isn't actually enough to call those viral videos; in fact, while the top listed video has about 7000 hits, the next has less than 2000, and that's hardly "viral" (in and of itself).

However, I think that the IP may be correct that the Life link should not be here--it's only about photos, not videos, so I don't believe it bleongs in this article. Qwyrxian (talk) 12:00, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Origin of the phrase "viral video"

I have researched the derivation of the term "viral video," but have been unable to identify it definitively. It DEFINITELY was not coined in 2009, as the entry currently suggests, with discussion of the term dating back to at least 2006 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5454327) and very likely earlier, as this press release from 2003 would suggest: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/174475/Splinter-Cell-PS2-launches-viral-video/ JoBuNYC (talk) 00:43, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

Anyone have any clue where or how to begin looking for where this term originated? It certainly would be something useful to have in the article. 184.7.167.28 (talk) 06:07, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Reasoning from lead removed

I removed the explanation provided for its spread. It is speculation written from an editor's idea and anecdotal evidence. I removed it because, it is not verifiable. Cantaloupe2 (talk) 15:17, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Thoughts on the "Social impact" section

Is there a good reason for this section being the way that it is? It appears to me that the subsections, explanations and examples given provide little to no information and have no real relevance.

I hope this doesn't step on anyone's toes, but I think this section needs some serious reviewing or should be deleted altogether. At this point I unfortunately can't offer a proper rewrite, but in the meantime I would just like to offer my thoughts. Maybe someone could enlighten me as to why the article looks the way it does right now.

Internet celebrities

There are numerous examples of people who became famous over the Internet, yet only one minorly famous example has been named. The Internet celebrity phenomenon is partially tied to YouTube, but not exclusively. The information is subjective and incomplete.

Band and music promotion

MTV and Vevo would probably be the most important pages to name here. Again, what does the current example have to do with anything? The common example to be named would be OK Go whose videos were notable in regards to viral video. But there is definitely more useful information on this and many more hugely famous viral music videos.

Structure of this section

I'm not sure if "Social Impact" would even be the right term to summarize all these different topics. Internet celebrities, band and music promotion and education, I could imagine, would somehow fit into one section, broadly grouped by Arts, Entertainment and Education. Customer complaint and cyber bullying on the other hand, seems to be a completely different subject to me. Moreso, is customer complaints really worth a whole subsection? It seems to me that this should be no more than a mention in a paragraph that states miscellaneous examples, if at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chuchuls (talk • contribs) 04:42, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Move to Viral media

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) Hot Stop talk-contribs 03:29, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

---

Viral video → Viral media – I don't think "viral" necessarily refers to videos. It can be other things as well. Twitch Plays Pokemon for example is not a video but a game. "Media" is more general and seems more appropriate. CodeCat (talk) 02:16, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Are there any sources using viral media because I don't think we can create a title if it is not used by reliable sources? There are some exceptions like using descriptive titles over nonneutral ones (Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy over attorneygate) however that would not apply here.--70.49.72.34 (talk) 04:10, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Titles don't need to be sourced. They just need to be descriptive of the contents of the article. I chose "media" because it was more general, but feel free to suggest another term. I just think that "video" does not cover the subject accurately, as the phenomenon is not limited to just videos. Any kind of sharable media can be viral, even a game (like TPP). CodeCat (talk) 04:17, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. "Viral videos" 7,400 Google book hits[10], "Viral media" 1,260 hits [11]. Same dichotomy on Google scholar; "Viral videos" 2,810 hits[12] and "Viral media" 838 hits[13]. Besides, the article itself seems to be composed to strictly deal with videos.--Labattblueboy (talk) 05:04, 4 March 2014 (UTC)
  • Actually, per WP:COMMONNAME, the title should simply be the adjective "viral", which not surprisingly is more common than "viral video". But this has nothing to do with common names in any case, it's about subject material. I pointed out that Twitch Plays Pokemon is also considered "viral" but it's not a video. So is this article supposed to be about videos alone, or should it consider all viral phenomena even if they are not videos? And if you think it should only be about videos, do you also support the creation of Viral image, Viral video game, Viral website and so on, so that the whole range of things that can be "viral" is covered? Again I'm not arguing for a more common name, I'm arguing for a name that better covers the whole subject, independent of the medium. CodeCat (talk) 14:08, 4 March 2014 (UTC)
• Comment this page is about videos — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.120.175.135 (talk) 18:28, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

  So what do you suggest? CodeCat (talk) 18:35, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

make a new page, nothing is stopping you

and make some links to it

and add content about things that are viral and not videos — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.120.175.135 (talk) 22:39, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Why "Viral" ?

The article fails to explain why these videos are refered to as "viral". Do they convey a computer virus to the viewer's computer when viewed or downloaded? Wouldn't they be blocked by antivirus software? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.249 (talk) 23:01, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

That's the same question I was going to ask --Marce 10:44, 10 July 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fandelasketchup (talk • contribs)

Susan Boyle

While fixing a Kony 2012 reference I noticed Susan Boyle reached 100 million views after only nine days, which is rather close to Kony 2012 attaining 100 million after six days. Maybe it would be a good idea to mention Susan Boyle? The nine days ref is here (see stats graphic): http://mashable.com/2012/03/12/kony-most-viral/

Perhaps it wouldn't hurt either to mention Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, which attained 100 million after 18 days, but then again you mention one and there is a tendency to mention all, which leads to Rebecca Black (Friday) attaining 100 million views after 45 days.

I think at least Susan Boyle should be mentioned.

149.254.51.158 (talk) 21:52, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

Jessi Slaughter

Jessi Slaughter, who is mentioned in this article as well as Stickam currently identifies as a non-binary transgender person named Damien Leonhardt who uses they/them pronouns. Should we update the name and pronouns used in these articles? --73.237.56.126 (talk) 03:30, 9 October 2016 (UTC)

Proposal to add graphs

I propose to add the following two graphs, or at least the "Views per week" graph, to the lead, with brief commentary mentioning how views grow virally, then slowly decline. (Data is for Gangnam Style (music video).) Objections? Suggestions? —RCraig09 (talk) 19:25, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

• 
• 

Done. After waiting eight days, graphs have been added. —RCraig09 (talk) 22:21, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

Sections removed from article

I have removed the following two sections from the article because I think there are problems (the first has little to say about viral videos in particular, it's mostly just about campaigning and mudslinging; the second is all original research/original analysis). I would welcome some outside opinions on what to do with them. Also, I should note these additions were written for a class project.

2008 Presidential Campaign

Barack Obama took advantage of viral videos during the 2008 United States presidential campaign. In a video conducted by Brookings, Darrell M. West predicted that "attack ads [would] play a prominent role in the 2008 election and that he expect[ed] the Democrats to fight back." Although since the beginning of time attacking an opponent vigorously was admired, the 2008 Presidential Campaign showed that there is definitely a fine line. In an article regarding the inaccuracies of the advertisements presented by each opponent it was stated, “…the 2008 campaign has reached all-time lows in the use of misleading and inaccurate political appeals.” The article further states that the Republican Party broadcasted an ad taking Barack Obama’s words out of context comparing Sarah Palin to a pig. On the other hand the Democratic Party was no saints either. In response to McCain securing the GOP nomination, the Democrats falsely accused the Republicans of supporting a 1,000-year war in Iraq. In this article West provides advice for the voters, “But the best thing for voters to do is to watch the candidates debates and judge for themselves.” In addition the article provides interesting information about the financial spending towards campaign advertisements. It states, “By the time the campaign is over, the presidential candidates are expected to have spent 55 percent of their overall budget on ads.” Although fifty-five percent is barely over half, one must consider that it was spent on only one, of an incessant amount, of responsibilities in a campaign. More specifics suggest, “John McCain’s campaign has spent almost $29 million since mid-May, and Barack Obama’s campaign spent almost $34 million sin June 20th.”

References

Looking To the Future

When looking at the future of viral videos, one must take into consideration the other forms of technology or in this case other sub categories of Viral Marketing. One in particular to look at is viral applications. When looking at this comparison people of this generation who highly admire viral videos suggest that if looking in the future, viral applications will not be as prevalent as viral videos. Viral videos spread faster and broader than viral applications. Viral videos are shared by many viewers and viral applications can be used only on those who download the actual application. A viral application requires downloading which would involve an efficient internet provider. A viral application is limited because in order to use the application the correct operating system would need to be place. For example, some applications cannot be used with two different operating systems. Operating systems consists of Blackberry or Ipod Touch from Apple, which both provide specific applications.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Rjanag (talk • contribs) 03:16, 8 December 2009 (UTC)