How stuff spreadsUnderstanding video sharing in social mediaWebinar9 July 2013

Contents

01

02

03

04

05

06

How do you study viral video dynamics?

8 ways to measure video performance

The two models of viral spread: Top Down vs. Bottom Up

Understand the audience

Influencers vs. communities

Maximising the shareability of your own video content

Setting the scene

01

1,500 millionYouTube views

76 millionYouTube views

Why study these videos?

1. The most shareable content in social media

2. They're memes – ideas people creatively re-interpret, not just share passively

3. YouTube is the 3rd most popular website in the world.

4. Truly global

5. Understand Twitter as a hub for sharing 3rd-party content

How do you study video memes?

What we did…

Gangnam OriginalWaveya dance team

DeadpoolBritney on the Ellen show

YouTube Rewind

Original DizastaV1 South Coast SkateV3 OfficeNorwegian ArmyMiami Basketball

Track the top 5 most-viewed videos within the meme:

Focus on Twitter content

Research findings

02

We had to create our own video sharing metrics

Content metricsShape Number of shares per video, over lifetime of the meme

Lifespan Number of consecutive days where people shared the meme 500+ times

Shareability Total Twitter shares per each million of YouTube views

Variation How much did attention to the meme vary day-by-day?

Audience metricsPopularity Number of unique users sharing the meme over its lifetime

Amplification How influential were the people who shared the meme?

Globality How international was the meme?

Diffusion Network Hubs and nationalities who drove the spread of the meme

SIZE of the memes

SHAPE of the memes - the balance between different videos

SHAPE of the memes Model 1: Top Down

One dominant source(e.g. Gangnam Original)

Spin-offs appear but only get a fraction of the attention

Driven by old media – record labels, TV, established sources

SHAPE of the memes Model 2: Bottom Up

Non-celebrity creators

Copies out-perform the original source as the meme gains awareness and interest

Meme can get picked up by established celebs & influencers (e.g. Miami Heat basketball)

SHAREABILITY of the videos

Original

Waveya

Britney

Deadpool

YouTube Rewind

OVERALL

Dizasta

Norwegian Army

V1 South Coast Skate

V3 Office

Miami

OVERALL

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Twitter shares per million YouTube views

So is a celebrity-driven model is the way to go?

LIFETIME of the memes

14-Jul-1

2

26-Jul-1

2

7-Aug-1

2

19-Aug-1

2

31-Aug-1

2

12-Sep-1

2

24-Sep-1

2

6-Oct

-12

18-Oct

-12

30-Oct

-12

11-Nov-

12

23-Nov-

12

5-Dec-

12

17-Dec-

12

29-Dec-

12

10-Jan-1

30

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

Gangnam OriginalTwitter shares per day

Harlem Shake videos burnt out quickly

2-Feb-13 9-Feb-13 16-Feb-13 23-Feb-13 2-Mar-13 9-Mar-130

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

Dizasta Army V1 Skate V3 Office MiamiTwitter shares per day

VARIABILITY How does the sharing rate change day by day?

14-Jul-1

2

23-Jul-1

2

1-Aug-1

2

10-Aug-1

2

19-Aug-1

2

28-Aug-1

2

6-Sep-1

2

15-Sep-1

2

24-Sep-1

2

3-Oct

-12

12-Oct

-12

21-Oct

-12

30-Oct

-12

8-Nov-

12

17-Nov-

12

26-Nov-

12

5-Dec-

12

14-Dec-

12

23-Dec-

12

1-Jan-1

3

10-Jan-1

30

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

Gangnam Original Memes "spike" when they're shared by a top influencer or national media – sources with massive reach, driving 10,000s of retweets

VARIABILITY How do you measure spikeyness?

= the standard deviation / mean(unit: shares per day)

In plain English:A ratio of the changeability day-to-day

Why?You can "see" when a search is more spikey – but it's useful to put a number to it for benchmarking and accurate comparison

The more spikey, the more top-down driven a meme is

Undestanding the audiences sharing video content

03

The people driving the meme sharing

The role of communities

Irn Bru 'Fanny' advert673,000 views starting from 1 fan

Internationalism

The majority of content for each meme came internationally – not from one country

How did they spread?

- Visual & audio content is more international than text

- The "memetic" qualities are kinaesthetic, i.e. movement-based

So they transcend language

The Harlem Shake meme produced highly local variations

Why does video behave like this?

04

Six drivers for sharing:

Social currency

Triggers

Emotion

Public

Practical value

Stories

What is social currency?

How can social media content give people "social currency"?

It's got to reflect well on the person who chooses to share the content:

First to spot "the next big thing"

Sharing a different perspective or a creative new spin on an idea

Makes you look intelligent, creative, cool

Humour

Contrarian ideas

Memes need to evolve

Crazy song from Korea!

Surprise hit! Biggest

video ever!

Look at this random video!

Hey, here's a local one!

Wow, celebs have done one!

Charles Duhigg'The Power of Habits'

A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances

It grows because of the habits of a community, and the weak ties that hold neighbourhoods and clans together

And it endures because a movement's leader gives participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership

There's a balance to be struck…

Influencers…

Big audiences

Build reach, fast

…But can burn through audiences quickly

…Risk of becoming overexposed

The crowd…

Lots of them!

Close relationships with friends

Looking for what's new & cool to share

….Can be hard to get their attention

You need both

Takeaways

1. What does your audience communicate by sharing your content? How are you making them look good?

2. How is your content going to evolve?Invite collaboration

3. Stay flexible and seize opportunitiesBe prepared to surprise people

4. Influencers give great reach – but they burn through their audiences fast. They can't be the only tool you use

5. For sustained interest, seed with communities first

How to measure your own video performance

Content metricsTotals Total YouTube views and total shares per channel

Lifespan How long the video stays "active" (e.g. 500+ shares per day)

Shareability Total Twitter shares per each million YouTube views

Variability How much did attention to the video vary day-by-day?

Audience metricsPopularity Number of unique users sharing the video over its lifetime

Amplification How influential were the people who shared the video

Globality How international was the video's spread?

Diffusion Network Hubs and nationalities who drove the spread of the video

Thank you

Jessica Owenswww.facegroup.com

www.pulsarplatform.com