Deep dark black hole of Internet is now flooded with videos of amateur and professional videos of cats, pranks, natural disaster, musicians, bloggers and many-many others. Once you put something on the Internet it stays there forever. And each video, no matter how poorly made or even stupid it is, has a chance to become as it’s called “viral”. That happened to, for instance, “Gangnam Style” which now holds the record for the most viewed YouTube video with 2.8 billion views. But was is “viral”? Where this term come from? What it takes for the video to become “viral”?
Jenkins explains, that the word “viral”, as well as “meme”, takes it’s origins in biology (2009, p. 2). As Rushkoff explains, when it comes to “media viruses” they are not just like biological viruses, they actually are viruses, because they act exactly like them (1994, p.9). A source of a media virus can be anything from an event, invention, song and image, to pop hero or a sex scandal, and the spread of spreading through internet media space is directly dependant on how catchy it is for a viewer (p.10). Concept of media viruses became the basis for the theoretical framework of “viral media” which dominated field of media studies for over a decade. Even though, it most certainly was a workable theory at the dawn of internet and digital age, much has changed and the crucial part of the concept has changed.
“Viral media” is inherently connected to the concept of “stickiness”, which emphasises centralised control over distribution of a media event, in order to keep the “purity” of the message within (2009, p.5). However, the more internet got involved in people’s mundane the stronger was consumer’s influence in terms of the which media event becomes viral and which gets lost amid others. It happened simply because that modern media landscape is essentially social and the role of the audience is, therefore, crucial in the event circulation. Consequently, Henry Jenkins concluded, that the concept of “viral media” outlived itself, and a new theory of “spreadable media” has now replaced it.
Notion of spreadability, developed by Jenkins, relies on the consumer’s influence on the vitality and media circulation of such an event (2009, p.5). In the second scheme, role of the consumer becomes crucial in the virility of media event. Audience (or users, participants, consumers) are making conscious choice of viewing and sharing videos, images, news and they not stop only here, as it is supposed to be in viral media. People can now influence more than just amount of views and shares, they are capable of altering the core message of a video, image or any other media event. It is especially important for advertisers, as importance of digital marketing grew alongside with the popularity of internet. Each company that executes online marketing campaign should acknowledge how much power are in the hands of average consumers. According to Jenkins, the concept of “viral media” is not applicable for a successful marketing campaign anymore, as consumer response does not only affect the sales of advertised product or service, but the campaign itself. In “spreadable media”, audiences, texts (media events), business models, companies are involved and mutually dependant in the circulation of media content (p. 21).
Even thought the concept of “spreadability” does sound way more resilient when it comes to media studies, the term “viral” is still the dominant one among the masses. However, on the internet “viral” simply means “popular”. It is also preferred in marketing and used in such terms as “viral marketing” or “viral marketing campaign”. These campaigns are the ones most influenced by spreadability of media. If earlier companies used internet as just one of the platforms for placement of promotion material, many companies now intentionally create viral marketing campaigns relying on the power of spreadability. Companies use the potential of social media networks, turn to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube bloggers or even create viral videos themselves. An independent Australian production studio The Woolshade Company (also known as TWC) did exactly that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccENfRThXOk
In the late 2014, The Woolshade Co started both a social experiment and a strategic content marketing campaign called “The Viral Experiment” to announce itself to the world (“Case Study: Viral Experiment,” n.d.). They did not only targeted the general public, but also media, marketing & advertising professionals, as they aimed at establishing itself as a powerful and unique brand (“Case Study: Viral Experiment,” n.d.). TWC produced and anonymously released 8 hoax videos, that went viral in an instant. All these were done without any paid promotion and distribution. These videos feature woman who barely avoided being struck by a lighting on the beach (70+ million views); snowboarder followed by a bear (43m+); a man fighting off a white shark (43m+); etc. (“Case Study: Viral Experiment,” n.d.).
After releasing videos TWC closely monitored the public response, as in was in their primal interest to get videos as popular as possible. However, they were not in any way involved in the circulation of the videos, leaving this in the hand of the YouTube users. TWC, by all means, anticipated videos to go viral online, but, as I believe, offline response could’ve become quite a surprise for them. These fake videos did not only became one of the most popular viral videos, they received a massive media coverage on global and national news channels from Australia to the USA, Canada, France, Germany and, even, Brazil reaching the 50+ pieces of media coverage with more than 2.5 million views in addition to 220 million online views (“Case Study: Viral Experiment,” n.d.).
After 2 years they The Woolshed Company finally revealed to the world that these videos are fake and they are the one behind their creation. To say that their viral experiment became extremely successful would be an understatement. TWC was highly praised by general public (revealing video got 900k+ views); media (multiple TV interviews with international news channels); and industry (multiple awards including prestigious Webby and Mobius Awards for best Viral Marketing campaign).
Therefore, this marketing campaign proves the Jenkins’s concept of spreadable media, because after the creation of the videos and putting them online, TWC left them, basically, unattended for 2 years. Videos, naturally, gained millions of use and became true viral sensations without any paid promotion or advertisement. Even though, the actual gain of this videos didn’t even cover the cost of the production, The Woodshed Company most certainly made a name for itself and, later on, started working for such giants as Warner Bros. Studios, Toyota, HBO, SAMSUNG, Converse. TWC is now a full-service production studio, which specialises on creation of viral campaigns, documentaries, TVC’s, films and branded content, but it all started with the viral experiment which relied on the power of spreadable media.
References
- Case Study: Viral Experiment. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thewoolshedcompany.com/viral-166142-911687.html
- Jenkins, H., Li, X., & Domb, A.
(2008). If it doesn’t spread, it’s dead. Creating Value in a Spreadable Marketplace. Retrieved from: http://www.convergenceculture.org/weblog/2010/04/conver gence_culture_consortium.php - Rushkoff, D.
(1994). Introduction (pp. 3 -16). In: Media virus! Hidden agendas in popular culture (1st ed.). New York: Ballantine Books.