Viral Video Legacies Part 1: OK Go, Dancing Matt and Evolution of Dance

The new OK Go music video went online yesterday, and is number one in the Viral Video Chart today. Oh my God, that is fast.

This band has a long history of creating viral videos to promote their songs. In this latest, they use the traditional 'domino effect' trick to create a video that is difficult to stop watching (unless you're me and you've seen two hundred similar videos.) But is it really that good? Judge for yourself:



Time will tell whether the world considers it as good as the first, but one thing I do know - it was the brilliance and originality of their first videos that brought this new one to the attention of 1.2 million video viewers and 2,622 bloggers/Tweeters today.

Here was their first:



The success of each video builds on the last. Even if the subsequent videos aren't as good as the original.

This is why Dancing Matt has released no less than three versions of his Where the hell is Matt? videos so far.

And why poor old Mr 'Evolution of Dance' (this web-celeb had the top spot in viral videos for years before Susan Boyle kicked him to the kerb) still manages to get about 50,000 views per day.

Last year, VisibleMeasures, (one of the most reputable sources of information on viral spread along with my own lovely Unruly Media) wrote a blog post on the new phenomenon of sequels appearing in the viral video world, and how they boost views of originals too. Even if they are never as good.

I draw your attention in particular to this quote:

Before the launch of the sequel, the original Evolution of Dance clip had settled in to an average daily viewership of 130,000 views per day. Since the sequel was released, this daily viewership has surged over 75% to more than 240,000 new views everyday.

So where is all this leading? To the first book trailer viral video legacy, to be discussed in Part 2, coming soon...