How many hits does it take for something to be classed as viral? 10,000? 50,000?
Exactly how much qualifies as 'viral'?
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
I'm (one of many) in a YouTube video with over 2 million views, am I viral?
I'm not sure how much is it about individual hits on one site but how quickly the video, story, picture or whatever spreads. A million hits on YouTube is nothing. But when the video spreads to other video-sharing sites, people link to it on Facebook, on forums, make thread bombs and memes out of it then it's "viral." It's viral when you can't get away from it because it's everywhere.
This. I have a few videos with over a million hits but they've gathered slowly over the past 7 years, therefore not viral.
It's nothing to sneeze at... when were they posted?
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I agree with this. It's not about how many hits a video gets or even how quickly it gets them, but rather how quickly it spreads across the web. A large number of hits that are quickly garnered are therefore the result of a viral video, not the cause of it.
If I suddenly hear about it, it's viral. 
I think it also depends on the target community. A generel interest viral video (like say Gangam Style) certainly needs more hits than a funny puppy video or something.
I think there are two types of viral, really. A flash in the pan, seen once and never again, that's typical viral.
But a really mad viral meme takes months if not years to go away. Like that goddamn, 6-photo comparision "What I do" "What my mom thinks I do" "what all the other TrekBBS'ers think I do." Jesus, that went on faaaar too long.
But a really mad viral meme takes months if not years to go away. Like that goddamn, 6-photo comparision "What I do" "What my mom thinks I do" "what all the other TrekBBS'ers think I do." Jesus, that went on faaaar too long.
: posts a picture of a sombrero :
When the old people at family gatherings start talking about it ("Did you see that Your-Tube video on Facebook? Oh it was so cute, I should make videos of my own cats and download them to the Internet!"), or when there is a segment about it on your local news ("There's a new dance craze hitting the nation - if you haven't heard about it yet, you will after the break!" *Fade out as weatherman dances Gangnam style*).
As far as I'm concerned, a video isn't truly viral until it's spread so far and wide that most everyone has totally lost sight of its origins, and even the guy who made it starts receiving links to it from others who are unaware that he made it, accompanied by the message that they think he'll really enjoy it.
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