What is a Viral Video?

Now and then you will hear that a video went “viral." This term, as with numerous other words in this modern age of technology, has acquired whole new added meanings as it relates to the digital world. In a technological sense, people might presume that viral has something to do with a computer virus. But this is not the case.

When Does a Video Become Viral?

When a video goes viral, it has become viewed by many people. Its exposure on the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds as more and more people discover it and pass it along to other users. While we're discussing viral videos, it's also possible for an image on Instagram, a Tweet on Twitter or an article on a website can become viral, and the meaning in those cases is the same; many people see it.

So how many views, or hits, will classify a video, image or article as “viral”? There is no single specific number, but many videos, images or articles deemed to have gone “viral” garner more than a million views in a week or less.

The classification is probably assigned more as a result of intensive activity and the rate of growth among users in a relatively short amount of time than of how many hits something receives.

How Do Videos Become Viral?

You find viral videos a video-hosting website, usually YouTube. Since so many people surf the Internet and enjoy viewing these videos, the news of a funny or topical video travels fast. It's the sharing tools built into YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites that enable a video or other item to go viral.

When a YouTube account user clicks on the "share" icon to share a video a whole range of sharing options appears in a new pop-up window. These include the link to the video, so it's easy to copy and paste the link a website or in an email. Buttons appear for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest along with an email icon. Sharing the video only takes a mouse click or a tap. Here's a screenshot of what appeared when I clicked the share button for a Ted Talks video.

 

To my way of thinking

Some people spread the word by putting links on other websites or in forums, which receive a great deal of traffic. Some people just tell others about it. Those others, of course, will look for it, watch it and pass it along to someone else. Before you know it the page views of this video have skyrocketed, making the video very popular — and very viral.

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