Viral Videos: The Darker Side and the audience’s participation
The other day, Keywest blogged about why videos go viral. The discussion mainly centered on the positive aspects of viral videos, as well as their humorous side. The audience and its interaction is key for a video to go viral, and in a lot of instances, funny videos get the most views. But what about the darker side of viral videos?
What we didn’t touch upon is how the audience, with pretty much everyone having access to smartphones and video cameras these days, is constantly recording their day to day events – everything from a friend’s party to public events.
On Monday, April 15th, 2013 there were two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. As of the date of this entry, information is still being analyzed and nobody knows yet who or what the motivation was. This incident, along with several others, is a tragedy that has been recorded by average people, in addition to the regular broadcast news organizations, and uploaded to YouTube. As of the date of this entry, the Boston Marathon explosion has over 15 million views.
Youtube and other video sharing sites have allowed people from around the world to experience humanity’s joys and simple pleasures, as well as humanity’s pains. The internet also has its darker side, and videos such as beheadings, and women being raped, find their audience as well. These videos might not get millions of views, but they do have an audience that I would think is large enough. Even on YouTube, you can find videos of political or religious extremism, along with comments from the audience that tend to fall into arguments filled with hate and disdain for one type of group and their beliefs. YouTube tries its best to remove content that causes a significant uproar, but they don’t want to act as a censorship board, and try not to; although they waffle back and forth depending on whom they are trying to please.
Let’s take the example of an earthquake. At one time, it was only possible to view footage of the aftermath via a news organization. However, we are now accustomed to viewing footage taken by everyday people using their smartphones to record the earthquake at it is in progress. People don’t need a news anchor anymore; they want to see it first hand, the way it is being experienced by the people going through it. We need to see it, to understand it, and to try to comprehend exactly how such disastrous things can happen. Seeing it through the eyes of someone who was there makes it more real and brings us in closer to feel what it’s like, and to make us ask ourselves “What if I was there? What would I do? Would I be scared? Would I be brave and run towards the danger in attempts to help others?”
These are important questions to ask ourselves when we see unbelievable events. From natural to man made disasters, recording devices are everywhere. Humanity all comes together online to experience the good and the bad we have to offer. From the joy of watching a video of a newborn to the senseless acts of violence, such as what happened at the Boston Marathon, we experience it all.
We are all watching, some for good, and some for bad.
