What was unforgettable a week ago can now be old news and annoying. What’s next for the phenomenon? The tricky thing with a craze like this is seeing how fast it wears out its welcome. That makes sense: the second is much better for the Internet. How are these two videos doing? As of this writing, the first, overly-branded, CG video has 136,822 views and the second video that sticks more to the true formula has 1.9 million views.

But overall, this second video does a good job of staying true and embracing the phenomenon. That is a strange departure from the simple, low-tech formula and they don’t gain anything by using the effects. One minor quibble: there are two puzzling video effects thrown in at 0:20 and 0:21 where the video shakes and flashes. It trusts the truth and just points the camera at people dancing. It’s the Jeff Gordon Edition, and there’s blatant branding, but it’s much stronger. The second video, on the other hand, stays true to the formula. It tries to exploit a popular meme for a blatant commercial. The first is a computer-generated can dancing and lacks all the truth and humanity of the phenomenon.

Most interestingly, Pepsi has posted two Harlem Shake videos:* The humanity revealed is what makes it fun to see the Grandma Edition (4.1 million views) or the Maker Studios Office Edition (16.8 million views).įollowing Maker Studios lead, a few brands have made Harlem Shake videos, with companies like Buzzfeed (800,000 views) and College Humor (2.6 million views) making their own office editions. What’s your crazy costume? What’s your silly dance? This formula, like Where the Hell is Matt? 2008 (45 million views), gives a simple way to see how different people make the same idea their own and reveal something of themselves in the process. Each video gives us a glimpse of who these people are. Great marks here as well, and this rule is crucial to the success of the phenomenon. Again, contagious content has to be different, and this phenomenon is exactly that. The same dancing would wear thin if the videos were even a minute long, but at thirty seconds, they are great bite-sized videos that you (or your kids) can devour like candy. But all these videos are quick and get right down to business. Yes, some may argue that the whole phenomenon is a waste of time. That’s sticking to simple, strong Internet production techniques that keep it true and make it contagious. Each of these videos is documenting a real event with a single, fixed camera and only one edit. Second, it scores very well on all four of our rules for creating viral videos. What makes this phenomenon so contagious?įirst, it’s a simple, effective formula, so it’s easy for people to join in and make their own. And even the Norwegian Army got involved (18 million views):

Harlem shake poop edition