From Information Habitat

Viral Assignment

For Tuesday (10/28/08), find an post your favorite viral video (new or old). Post it here with a short explanation of what it is and why you think it is viral. ONE NOTE: it pays to post first since you can't repeat what another has posted.

Viral Video

Justin Williams - Tourettes Guy Before his site went down and he supposedly died, TG was a bit of an internet celebrity. I find his videos viral because some of the stuff he says in his videos is very infectious: 'Bob Saget' will probably become your favorite curseword.

Duncan Bowsman-- Rick Roll

Elyse Kuriata-- This was an SNL skit that was on a few weeks ago. Since then it's been up on HULU.com and has gotten high ratings, lots have watched it, and made comments about it as well. Some found it offensive, but I just think it's ridiculously funny. Enjoy! Lawrence Welk Show (SNL)

[1]

[2]Heather Hill -- Pearl the Landlord (Very funny Will Ferrell short - It's viral because the link has probably been sent to millions of people. It's also been in the news due to its controversial nature.)

Jena Donlin — Charlie bit my finger (This clip on YouTube has become so popular that this version even has a pop up ad in the middle that was not there when I originally viewed this clip.)

Ashley Bigham - Charlie The Unicorn! (really stupid, but it has 29 million views. I think that counts as viral.)

Tim Schafer - If you're into it (Flight of the conchords. Good show, good video, viral.)

Casey DeSmet - Chinese Backstreet Boys: That Way. I chose this video because it is kind of funny. It seems to be viral because it has been viewed by millions of people – it has even been featured on morning talk shows. It also speaks to issues of globalism.

Casey Miles - Betty Butterfield Meets the Mormons - Betty Butterfield is a viral video star. She is a character created by a guy named Chuck Knipp. I chose this video for two reasons: 1) It's effing hilarious, and 2) a friend showed it to me, which put me in the viral chain, and now I'm putting all of you in the chain. Viva la Viral Video! Viva la Betty Butterfield!

Chris Bell - Makin Music with John Mayer - John Mayer is my hero...and a little sad at the same time. Just a little, you know? 750,000 viewers spread over the 2 sites I checked. Word-of-keyboard spread this one. Viral.

Julie Platt - Leeroy Jenkins - The infamous World of Warcraft video depicting a raid gone horribly wrong as the result of Leeroy's overzealousness. This video was created to make fun of "nerdy" WoW players who reportedly obsess over their game strategy. After appearing all over WoW forums and YouTube, Leeroy Jenkins began to saturate gaming and popular culture. References to the video showed up in countless video remixes and parodies, in the official World of Warcraft trading game, in "South Park," and on "Jeopardy." As of October 2008, the newest WoW patch allows a player's toon to receive the surname "Jenkins" upon achieving certain game goals.

Jim Jansen - Wassup 2008

Michael Davidson -- Wanna buy a ghost?

Mike Burke - Moar Dots - Another World of Warcraft video. Actually it is an audio clip of a failed attempt at bringing down Onyxia. It is viral because it spread pretty quickly amongst nerds. The audio clip was originally on a different website, but this video representation has since gotten over a million views on youtube.

- Here are some other versions of the Rick Roll: Barack Roll, Scientology gets Roll'd, Roll'd Live, Doom Roll'd, Yoda Roll'd,

- Here is another one: Elmo

John Castronova - My Hands are Bananas This video has over five million views on YouTube. Its popularity has even spawned its own merchandise. I am a proud owner of a milky pirate pin. Plus, there are numerous parodies of this video including a Halo version. This goes to prove that people can take something totally worthless and make it even more inane.

Melissa Beard - Where the Hell is Matt? - Back in 2003 this 32-year-old Austrailian Guy named Matt quit his job and decided to travel all around Asia. While on the trip a friend of his told him to do a dance and he would film it. So Matt posted a video of himself dancing all over different tourist locations of Asia and it earned over a million hits on Youtube. Stride gum approached him after seeing the video and asked if he would travel and do another dancing video on a paid world-wide trip. Matt now claims the fame to being the person to dance around the world. This is a viral video because it shows that ordinary people have the ability to market and create a name for themselves through websites like myspace and youtube.

Hayley Roberts- Otters holding hands - When my grandma sends me something I know it's probably making the rounds on the internet. This video from the Vancouver zoo has tons of versions (the one I'm linking to has over 11 million views) and always makes me feel happy on the inside.

Nathan Boes - Tickle me Elmo on Fire - Over a million views, and more than funny/disturbing enough.

Musherf Alamri- Mgestyk Gesture-Based Gaming and more

This is video is pure a part of A marketing efforts to promote this product.

I was surprised that such advertising could be of interest to people.

However, there success must due to the integration of famous video game in the video. Also, the excitement tone makes the video exciting.