Despite this being a very serious topic. I'm quite interested in how a single viral video managed to convince millions to commit themselves not only of their own personal time, but to even get involved and to donate money to help a better cause.
Looking at the statistics the video became viral just in one day, my theory is that it became viral through the sharing through popular social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Even for me, on the day of release I had no idea about this whole campaign or who on earth Joseph Kony is. The first spark of curiosity for me was through the repetitive comments being posted by different YouTube videos which was a bit different than your standard spam of adverts or "Free music" links. This seemed a lot bigger since it still appeared on different genres of videos. This actually made me search out the term "KONY 2012" to see what he fuss was all about. After seeing results and the video duration (30 minutes!), I immediately switched to a different webpage as I thought it wouldn't be worth my time whatever it was. Later that day a close friend who posted the same video on his Facebook, then I just gave up and watched it. I immediately got immersed into the storyline due to the high quality music, speech and video effects, the next thing I know, I've watched the whole thing.
Simon Houpt who works for The Globe and Mail, wrote an online article about the whole video of KONY 2012 decomposed the techniques used to convince a large portion of the world.
They consisted of:
- Kids- The empathy we would receive towards and infant in comparison an adult greatly differs. By using his son and Jacob (when he was younger) they can really connect with the audience, through there speech and their feelings.
- Attention span - Despite the video being 30 minutes long it somehow still attracted millions of views. If the viewer can believe they are seeing something meaningful and depending on how well the video is planned out, it can keep them entertained.
- Secrets - By using percentages and convincing the viewer that they're the one of the few people who know about the events taking place, it makes them feel unique and immerses them more into the video.
- Join in - By allowing the audience to take part it makes them feel like they're part of the fight, giving them a higher self esteem, and motivating them more to pay attention to the video.
- Invite others - This works well with previous one as it as easy for the audience to achieve. it basically convinces the audience to advertise the original advert. In this case, they asked the audience to message celebrities (bare in mind the millions that watched the video) to pass the message on further. A simple but very effective, cost friendly way of getting the video known. (it worked on me as well!)
If you want to find out more or join the cause. Check out the website Here
Bibliography
Five factors that made the Kony2012 video go viral - The Globe and Mail. 2012. Five factors that made the Kony2012 video go viral - The Globe and Mail. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/five-factors-that-made-the-kony2012-video-go-viral/article2365293/. [Accessed 10 March 2012].
How 'Kony' Clip Caught Fire Online - WSJ.com. 2012. How 'Kony' Clip Caught Fire Online - WSJ.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204781804577271692294533870.html?mod=googlenews_wsj. [Accessed 11 March 2012].
How the Kony Video Went Viral - NYTimes.com. 2012. How the Kony Video Went Viral - NYTimes.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/how-the-kony-video-went-viral/. [Accessed 11 March 2012].
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