Viral videos are videos spread by "word of mouth", made popular by people emailing links to their friends and it spreading wildly (like a virus). Usually they are short, funny and 'homemade', although recently companies have seen this as a way of getting more effective advertising (adverts that get more product sales for less cost). Many creators of videos that have gone viral have since got jobs in larger production companies based on their work such as Bruce Branit, the producer of 405, which is thought to be the first internet viral video. In this way the video is like a portfolio of work, far more important than a CV or exam results.
Unfortunately the opposite is also true. Young people who have put videos online featuring themselves (or had videos put online by someone else) have often regretted it, particularly when thousands or millions of people watch it to laugh at them.
Where Is Matt Activity
Matt Harding made a video of himself doing a silly dance while travelling. He was then sponsored to do two world trips by Stride, a chewing gum company.
Watch the videos of a talk Matt gave where he explains about planning and making the videos.
Matt talks to school pupils about his journeys and his videos.
Plan a viral video of your own
- What would you make?
- How could you encourage millions of people to watch?
- If you want a company to sponsor you, how would you persuade the company that it would be a good idea?
Using Google Maps, Google Earth an atlas or a world map plan out where you would travel if you had a company sponsor your video world tour.
The young men commonly known as The Star Wars Kid and the Numa Numa guy have found the publicity generated uncomfortable, with “The Star Wars Kid” suing the families of the young people who put the video online.