Kobe Bryant doesn’t need to do anything to go viral. After all, the Los Angeles Lakers five-time NBA Champion and 14-time All-Star shooting guard is one of the Association’s longest-tenured attractions.
Recently, Bryant has been forced to masquerade about the NBA hardwood in a protective mask after suffering a nasal fracture in the NBA All-Star Game. Aside from the Robin meets Zorro meets Dominatrix mask Kobe donned a portion of Tuesday night’s loss to the Pistons, Kobe’s gone iRobot.
If not viral, the mask(s) have at least been fodder for basketball fans and media minders. A funny image or screen shot to pass along. Why else would the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Detroit Pistons end up on YouTube? Save for the joy a loss brings Laker loathers.
Kevin Allocca is YouTube’s trends manager and in the TED Talk (above) he discusses what makes a particular video viral. Allocca says that there are three reasons: 1) Tastemakers - Using the “Double Rainbow” video as his example, Allocca exhibits analytics showing the video’s popularity growing after Jimmy Kimmel tweeted he enjoyed the video. 2) Community Participation - The “Nyan Cat” video has nearly 67 million views and has been endlessly remixed. The creative participation of viewers channeled in the form of parodies becomes part of the phenomenon. 3) Unexpectedness - Casey Neistat’s “Bike Lane Protest” video was created in response to a ticket he received for not riding in a bike lane. Peeved, Neistat filmed his experiences of being unable to ride in bike lanes due to vehicles and objects obstructing the path. This seemingly mundane topic for a video garnered more than 5 million views.
What would it take for the San Antonio Spurs to go viral on YouTube?
Well, Manu Ginobili swatting a bat was a start, inspiring more than one million cumulative views among different versions and Tim Duncan’s “Bad Gatorade” video earned more than two million views.
