New Years Resolution!

It's that time of year - when you start thinking about the year gone by, and the year that lies ahead. Nearly everyone thinks of the same thing - I will change this year! It will not be the same as it's been all these years! It has to be different.

One year later, you think of exactly the same thing! I've been trying to think of my new years resolution for ages!!! Ever since mid-December... and I have come to one conclusion - I will not keep it anyways, so why bother thinking of one?!

Nevertheless, I did make a resolution, and true to new year resolution rules, I did not stick to it for even a day!! But I will start (hopefully this year itself!)

So what was this big new years resolution that I thought of - decided to keep it simple - Finish what I started!

NOAH - I'm going to take the next step and make sure NOAH works the way I wanted it to!! 1 hour a day, that's all I will spend on it - the YouTube series, the website, the blog, the facebook and twitter accounts - anything and everything!

Some day soon, I will start working on it - Again!! 

Understanding Viral Videos!

I've been racking my brains to try and figure out how I can help people using social media. The answer has always been right in front of me - people power. But it wasn't until recently that I realised the true potential of it! When a few months back, the song 'Why This Kolaveri Di' went viral, I realised the real power of social media. But I still need to understand what makes something 'go viral'. What's that one thing that made over a million people around the world watch a video of a song in a language many would not even have understood? And then why did they share it? Forget the rest of the world, why did I share it?

People may wonder, being a digital marketing student, how can I be saying that I don't understand what makes a video go viral! Well the fact is, if anyone knew the secret to make every video go viral, then there would be no questions! But fact is, the same formula seldom works twice! Despite using 'recommended' tactics to promote NGOs and non-profit organizations, they don't gain the popularity that some accidentally viral videos do! This is the point I want to understand! Why is it that 44 million people watch this video, but not half of them will watch or share videos about missing dogs or animals being rescued, etc?



I myself showed at least 3-4 people the video, many of them showed it to 3-4 people and so I helps spread the word. So how is it that the same effect is not seen when people share information about animal rescue or any other social cause?

The questions have been ticking in my mind like the timer of a time bomb!! I still have no answer. I guess some of us liked the use of the south Indian accent. But was that the only reason people watched it so many times and made so many versions of it? No, it's not possible. Trying to understand what makes a video go viral, made me think of another video which had gone viral ages ago. Some of you might remember it, 'The Badger Song'?

Can you imagine the number of views on this video? Around 13 million when I embedded it here! But how? If anyone can solve the riddle of 'why' videos go viral, he/she could call himself the viral guru! One might say 'comedy', 'interactiveness of the video', etc. Fact is, it could be all of these plus more! The 'more' here is the mystery!

At present I'm experimenting with using the power of social media and viral videos to  promote awareness so that people will take responsibility of helping animals around them. Whether it is for helping animals or helping people, or any other purpose, understanding what makes videos go viral will make sure we can easily spread the word on important issues!

So tell me, why would you share (or have your shared) these videos?