Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Why Do Most Memes Suck So Hard? #SAY

Hey all,
                It's been a couple of weeks, how have you been? Yesterday was my first day as a teacher's assistant for the Digital Communications course for the BA Professional Communications at Royal Roads University.

Yesterday in class, we were talking about viral videos -  and why most memes suck so hard. We spent the majority of the day discussing aggregation, curation, and how to find the signal in the noise of all the data on the Internet. However, what happens when you follow the recommendations of evaluating all the posts that Postrank over 5 in your Google Reader - you lose touch with the grassroots of what people are actually talking about, or actually listening to. 

The example we were following was of Rebecca Black. I thought this was the woman who was complaining about people talking in the library, but it turns out Black is attributed to a terrible song everyone is in love with - with over 35 million views on youtube.

Let me explain the "meme to 'relevant' rating level" with two examples:

Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) Official Video

I can't stand this song, and I hope you find it offensive on more than just an intellectual level. Regardless, this video has over 171.5 million views on youtube.

Here is a video with six thousand views:

"Flutes" by Serengeti. Video by A.M. OVERTONE

I'm not complaining, not a bit; however, what we learn about these two examples is that you can reach a far more general audience with appeals to sex, food, and fear, but if you want to share an intimate - intellectual or emotional - moment with your audience, above the common denominator: be prepared to be confused with your content and receive far less attention.    

Keeping it real can go very wrong; but, soul-less songs, from sun-glassed stars, are simply forgettable. Emotions are everything -regardless of who recommends your music.

Thanks for reading, and if you comment - we can talk!

Jordan Keats

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