The Visibility of the Lurker and the Art of Viral Video
In the landscape of the internet there are many different kinds of users. As introduced by Green and Jenkins (2011), the term ‘users’ “merges passive (“merely clicking”) and active (“blogging and uploading videos”) modes of engagement”, encompassing the lurkers, the commenters and the creators themselves. In today’s society, people now watch and listen in a new way; one in which they have the power to contribute if they wish. However, contributing isn’t everything as some content leaves a lot to be desired. As introduced by groups such as Forrester (2011), there is a so-called ‘ladder of participation’, a model where more visible modes of production occupy the top rungs. However, this is perhaps not the best way to approach the situation, as it tends to devalue the watchers and listeners who generate millions of views on videos worldwide.
A ‘lurker’ is someone who participates in an online forum in a very passive manner, only sitting and reading, not interacting in any way. Lurkers can be a source of frustration for a large number of content creators though, as Herzog (2012) vents about Facebook pages, one comes to notice that their number of fans does not directly correlate with the amount of attention paid to posts. He attributes the blame to the creator themselves for focusing solely on their number of fans. I understand these frustrations well as I am a YouTube content creator myself, and it is very easy to fall into the trap of obsessing over your subscriber count versus your view count. YouTube is prime example of where the concept of the lurker becoming more visible is specifically apparent. YouTube gives a face and name to every subscriber, every commenter. As Green and Jenkins (2011) explain, it “transforms each of these everyday acts of consumption, giving them greater public visibility”.
But does relatability equal spreadability? According to my Facebook newsfeed, the answer is yes. Thousands of relatable posts, pictures and videos clutter my newsfeed with millions of likes, shares and views already attached. It seems that if enough people think it is funny/relatable, and think others will feel the same, they will share it. According to Lessig (2008), the financial success and sustainability of UGC (user generated content) sites relies on the fact that “the content must be shared in order to represent value”. The process of creating a viral video has become such an appealing accomplishment that the Google search for ‘how to create a viral video’ yields About 179,000,000 results. Strauss (2013) states that creating the right kind of video, with the right thumbnail and title and posting to the right social media sites are all vital steps in creating a viral video. He also separates the videos into these categories: funny, weird/quirky, cute, outrageous and poignant/insightful. Anyone who has an internet connection has seen the viral video sensation that is PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ music video, straddling the weird, funny and outrageous categories, which at time of writing has well over 1 billion views. I suppose in the end, from the point of view of a content creator, virality is great, but obsessing over subscriber count versus view count can only end in sadness.
Image sourced from someecards.
Green, Joshua and Jenkins, Henry. 2011. “Chapter 5: Spreadable Media: How Audiences Create Value and Meaning in a Networked Economy.” In The Handbook of Media Audiences, edited by Virginia Nightingale, 110-111. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Herzog, Ari. 2012. “Why 84% of Your Facebook Fans are Lurkers” Accessed March 21, 2014. http://socialmediatoday.com/ariherzog/552211/why-84-your-facebook-fans-are-lurkers
Lessig, Lawrence. 2008. Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. New York: Penguin.
officialpsy. 2012. “PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V.” YouTube video, posted July 15. Accessed March 21, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
Strauss, Steve. 2013. “Make Your Videos More Likely to Go Viral” Accessed March 21, 2014. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225507
