Charlie Bit my Finger- What makes an Online Video go viral?

I never really thought about why some videos have gotten so popular, but that seems to make sense. Sport videos containing crazy tricks or brutal falls tend to get millions of views because they make you feel like jumping out of your seat. This similar kind of arousal is the reason controversial videos such as Kony 2012 are spread so quickly.

It's interesting that people like to share emotions so much. I wonder what other reasons cause people to share videos. I feel like one is the phenomenon that people get pleasure from being the first to discover something. People like sharing videos as a sort of accomplishment, "hey, look what I found!"

This is a good point but I do not think can be pigeonholed into just youtube videos. All entertainment including movies, music sports plays etc. are meant to evoke certain emotions in us, and this is why we enjoy them.

I agree with the point you make that the reason people like those types of videos is because of emotional arousal, but I think that idea can also be applied to many other aspects of life. Since people remember and enjoy things that evoke an emotional response, I wonder if learning in school would be enhanced if the subject material was linked with emotions more often.

That's so true. Whenever I think something is really funny and laugh really hard, it doesn't seem as good if I don't get to share it with anyone else. I think that sharing things makes them better, especially if the person reciprocates your emotion towards whatever it is.

I believe emotional arousal could be one of the reasons why a viral video initially becomes popular, but at least personally I don't know how much I agree with Jonah Berger's comment that it's the expression of emotion that made "Charlie Bit My Finger" be viewed over 450 million times. I believe it's the fact that it showcases two very young children (who we almost unanimously find adorable according to the textbook) in a unusual situation.
Though I believe that as a video becomes more popular, the actual merits of the video become overshadowed by the fact that it's so popular, so people feel the need to stay in the loop and check out/share the video that everyone is talking about. Consider it a loose interpretation of the bandwagon fallacy. Such is the case for the Kony video, which of course delivered a powerful message, but I believe a significant amount of people only watched it and shared it with others because everyone else was already doing it.

I found this post to be pretty interesting because I am constantly emailed videos and other viral pictures from my parents and friends. I would agree that emotions are part of it, too. If you are a parent, this might bring back how you felt when your kids are cute little bundles of joy.

Something going "viral" really is an interesting phenomena. With the advent of social media, it really allows someone to share something instantly with hundreds of others at a button press. What sticks to the masses seems unpredictable.

I really enjoyed this post because i have always found it very interesting to go onto popular sites like youtube and see how many views different videos have gotten. Charlie Bit My Finger has been seen by so many different people that it is a perfect example of a video that has gone viral. So many different types of videos have gone viral but each has their own unique sense of entertaining quality.

The whole "we don't want to share facts, we want to share feelings" concept seems very true, at least for what I have witnessed in my life. If I feel strongly about viewing something whether I become happy, sad, angry, etc. I most likely will want to share it because it's some form of entertainment. I do agree with you though when you said that we can't come to conclusion and believe that "A" causes "B", so we have to be careful on the whole correlation vs. causation effects.

I agree with your statement that videos going viral is very much due in part to the amount of emotions that the video encompasses. This is a very interesting point, that I have never thought about before. If we find something funny, angering, saddening, etc, we want to show other people, Just human nature right? Some videos that people share could be considered down right silly/stupid but if it has over a million views and makes people laugh, people are probably going to share it with others.

Your blog really caught my attention! I have seen both videos and I have never thought about the emotional arousal playing a role in sharing the video and the videos being so popular. I also liked how you said that all of the different emotions makes the video more interesting and wanting people to share it. Your blog really makes me/people think about why we watched these videos and how we felt during them.

This has been something that has fascinated me for years. The fact that people can literally go from being an average teen to a nationally known household name in a matter of hours is outstanding. It just goes to show how far our technology has come and the capabilities that communication has. It's an exponential factor where one person shows it to four others, and then they show it to sixteen others, and so on. Before you know it, you've got Rebecca Black making over two million dollars off a song everybody more or less hates.

This is a really good point. I remember when I first watched the "Charlie Bit My Finger" video and I immediately shared it with my friends because I thought it was hilarious and wanted to see them get the same joy out of it. I think this is a very true point and it is cool to think about why videos, movies, books, etc. tend to be really popular.

I think that most of the time, viral videos are simple to comprehend and can be enjoyed by the general population. Most people are probably more likely to select a video on youtube that has many views, further increasing its popularity.

I have seen this video many times before I read this post and never accounted for the psychological aspect of viewing it. I have never seen the Kony video but have heard of it from many classmates. I think this would make the most sense because people how are emotionally aroused are more likely to take action. This would be in the form of reposting and sharing the video. I always had mixed emotions about the Charley bit me video this may be because of the mixed emotions demonstrated in the video. I never thought of this until this post which opened my mind to the videos I come across on social networking sites and youtube.

This is a very interesting analysis of viral videos. I have seen this video many times and have shared it with multiple friends. This post intrigued me because I have never really thought about the psychology behind the popularity of these videos. Although, when I came to college and met people from all over the country, I thought we would all have different videos to share with one another. To my surprise, even people from the deep south have enjoyed the same videos that I have. Great topic!