Friday, August 1, 2014

Blog #5: U.S. Swim Team Call Me Maybe Viral Video



So, this week the blog post is about Viral Videos.  The Viral video I picked is the 2012 USA Olympic Swimming Team doing the song Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.  Carly Rae Jepsen quickly became an internet sensation with this song in 2012.  There were many different people that posted videos of people dancing to the song and lip syncing it.   This one in particular became very popular, it currently has almost 12 and a half million views.  I remember seeing it after the 2012 London Olympics (I think it was filmed before the Olympics because there are parts in the video where there on a plane and I’m assuming they were traveling to London).  Part of what might have made this video popular was the fact that the US did so well in swimming in 2012. 

In class we talked about successful viral videos have to have the “lean forward” experience.  There were four things the “lean forward” experience needed; engage audience, relevant, easily shareable, and include an action path.  This video has all of that.  It is very engaging to the audience.  It is fun to watch and funny because many of the people on there are very recognizable after the Olympics.  When the video came out in 2012 it was very relevant because as I mentioned earlier the US Swimming Team did very well in the Olympics.  Next it was very easily shareable.  I remember seeing it on Facebook after one of my friends shared the video.  You can still share the video today from YouTube.  Finally it did include an action path.  There was a clear path the video was going and it all flowed very well together.


Overall this is a pretty good video and there are many more Call Me Maybe videos of people doing similar things out there.  One of the popular ones is of the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders, they have over 20 million views.  I’m sure you can guys why this one is so popular.  

5 comments:

  1. Jayson,
    This is pretty funny and a unique way to connect the swimmers with the fans during the Olympics. I think it shows the fans the fun personalities and experiences these Team USA athletes have during the Olympics.

    Andrea

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  2. Jayson, I think this video has so much success because of all of the different people that are in it, as well as the different venues that it takes place in. There was obviously a lot of time and effort put into making this video. It also came out around the time of the olympics, which helped because people were more aware of the swimmers. Every four years when the olympics take place, some of these "non mainstream" sports have to use the media coverage and try to grow their sport. I know from my personal experience, I am more educated about those sports during those years, especially with the athletes that take place in them. This video, like Andrea mentioned, shows the personalities of the fans, which allow fans to connect with them more.

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  3. I think videos of sport teams doing dances to songs really take off because as Michael and Cota said it allows fans to see a different side of the athletes that they normally get to see. This video reminds me of the Video the harvard baseball team put out of the same song. The video was of the guys in the van making up their own actions to the dance. That video had over 17 million views. Other athletic teams were then looking for a way to make their own version of the dance go viral, like we see here.

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  4. This video was absolutely fantastic. I believe that this provides an insight to the team and that they love to have fun. It shows their true character and that they love their sport and the experience. It doesn't surprise me that this went viral because swimming is one of the most popular sports during the Olympics and they had to dominate characters on their team in Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps.

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  5. I forgot about this video! So good! I love how they got all the swimmers to do it. It was a viral video that wouldn't go away in 2012 during the Olympics. Along with that, the call me maybe video wouldn't go away either. That was the most popular song for like 5 months. The definition of a viral video. Hilarious bud.

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