Part of the magic of the internet is how the oddest things seem to spread like wildfire, with internet speed. It’s called “going viral”, since we all know how quickly computer viruses can spread, but this tends to be more fun. Case in point: Double Rainbow Guy.
It was just another YouTube video posted by a nature-loving guy, until late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel tweeted the link. Know Your Meme.com says, “A little over an hour later, Bill Simmons retweeted the previous tweet on his own board. On July 4, a short article was posted on The Huffington Post promoting the video. On July 5, the Youtube.com user RayWilliamJohnson posted a video that highlighted the Double Rainbow video. On July 6, the user schmoyoho (popular for “Auto-Tune the News”) created an Auto-Tuned version of this video.”
Jimmy Kimmel said on his show that from only 800 views when he found it, it took less than two weeks for it to have almost 7 million views. That’s viral.
When that happens, people on YouTube begin making their own versions. Know Your Meme.com lists a bunch of items relating to the Double Rainbow Guy’s original video as does Huffington Post. And Fast Company tries to figure out “what it means” (since the Double Guy Rainbow guy asked…) in terms of their Influence Project, which studies the phenomena to try to make it happen on purpose, we suppose. They ask questions like, “Is Vasquez just another popular, soon-to-be-forgotten YouTube star? Will he ride the wave of “success” across the Web, like a unicorn atop a rainbow? Does Vasquez now have influence? Is “influence” even the right term to use?”
Only time will tell if The Double Rainbow guy will continue to influence the world, or fade into obscurity.
Tags: Internet Speed, Viral Video, YouTube
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I watched the video you have for “The tale of the fail whale” with my granddaughter. there was a bunch of youtube videos in a row. After the one about the fail whale she wanted to see the next one that was on there, so, I said what could it hurt it’s about a baby pig, then some baby ducks. Then about four videos in they had the baby pig being eaten by a big python snake!!! My granddaughter cryed for a hour. I think this was a horrible thing to do. It was like we were set up!! Please look into this matter. I am still in shock over what I saw, so I can imagine how my poor granddaughter who is 4 yrs. old must be. I am 58 by the way. Please try to be more careful in the future. Steven Murphy.
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