I Made a Viral Video
So last night I posted a video on youtube, and less than 12 hours later is breached 100,000 views.
It’s a Breaking Bad funny based on this weeks episode.
My brother showed me a video with Hank and Marie watching Miley Cyrus’s twerking at the VMA’s and I thought that this would be the perfect base for a new meme. It was 10 o’clock and I decided that I had to do this fast or else I’d miss my window of opportunity. I thought that some of Hal’s crazy antics from Malcom in the Middle would work for the video and found one. I put the video together in half an hour and had it on Youtube at 11:30pm.
The next morning I wake up to find it has 13,000 views. I’m extatic. That was crazy. It’s 7:30.
An hour later, 27 thousand views. It doubled.
An hour later, 66 thousand views. It’s 9:30.
Now, at 10:10, its at 139,000 views.
This video has not stopped its virality, if anything its gaining momentum. I was hoping I would get paid by youtube but it turns out that only happens if you make original content.
This is a perfect example of the social network and networking in general. I caught on to a popular video, and followed it up by adding a bit more depth to it and making in house jokes to Bryan Cranston’s heritage. Breaking Bad is such a popular television show online. It’s heavily pirated and it’s the source of tons of internet memes. I was reading an article in the New York Times that Anna Gunn wrote, who plays Skylar on the show, talking about how her character has so much hate online. This show has become a cultural phenomenon.
My friend from high school, Barry, posted the video on Reddit as soon as I linked it to my Facebook account. It’s on the front page of Reddit as we speak. I know that it hit number 8 most trending, and its now at 12. It may have been higher but I wasn’t up early enough to know. (Right now number one is a picture of Alec Baldwyn slamming a paparazzi on the hood of a car, much better than my video). That would have gotten a lot of people onto it. I also posted it in the Facebook page, Breaking Bad Memes, hoping it would get some recognition. When i got up this morning, I had two messages in my Youtube inbox. One being from a youtube channel saying that they promoted my video in a video about trending youtube videos, and another one from Mail Online, or Daily Mail, saying they wanted my permission to use my video in an article they were writing about Breaking Bad. Supposedly they are the most popular newpaper website in the world.
It is a really strange feeling to know that you have affected so many people you will never meet. There are so many comments saying how this made their day and how it’s the best video on youtube. I saw an opportunity to make a funny video and I made it, and people liked it.
The internet is filled with so many ways to share content. Basically anything on the net can be instantly shared to Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Reddit, Tumblr and so many other sites designed for just that. Sharing. If I had made this video before youtube, nobody would have seen it. There was no way of sharing it with others so easily. Maybe I could have put it on Funnyjunk? I don’t know. Everything is evolving so fast. The technological boom is absolutely crazy. Every year, the prior year seems obsolete. There’s just so much new.
10:30 its at 140,000. It’s slowing down, but that was in a 20 minute period. I’m sure it will boom again soon. Besides, it hasn’t even been a day yet.
UPDATE: 12 hours after its upload, 212,752 views. Amazing.