ON April 29, Prince William and Kate Middleton will get married in what has been dubbed as “the global wedding of the year”.

Will and Kate

In today’s age of technology, it is no surprise that the commemoration for the event has spilled over onto the Internet.
Clarence House, the official residence of the Prince of Wales (that’s Prince Charles, William’s father), has launched an official website to keep the public updated on details of the royal wedding (www.officialroyalwedding2011.org).

Where the royal wedding will take place

Westminster Abbey, where the wedding service will be performed, has also released a mobile application (for Android, iPod and iPad platforms) called Abbey 3D that “enables users to feel as if they are visiting the church where ever they happen to live or happen to be.”
For me, the best social media product to come out of the royal wedding is the video created by T-Mobile, which features a bunch of royal lookalikes dancing down the aisle (http://youtu.be/Kav0FEhtLug). At the time of writing, the video (pictured below) has become a “viral hit”, with over 5.2 million views since it was uploaded on April 15.
With the immense interest in the royal wedding, such a video was bound to be popular. This led me to rethink exactly what “viral” means in today’s social mediascape.
Just a few years ago, before social media became the buzzword, a video that became viral was a big deal. Due to the methods of sharing, usually only through e-mail and online forums, it wasn’t as easy as it is now to rake up millions of views.
These days, it is much easier. The simplicity of Twitter and its retweet function, together with Facebook’s “Like” feature makes social media a convenient platform to disseminate videos, enabling them to go viral easily.

Why is Rebecca Black famous again?

Marketeers have taken notice and the latest YouTube sensation Rebecca Black is testament to this. Her song Friday has become a global phenomenon, with more viewership on YouTube than Lady Gaga’s Born This Way.
The story goes that Rebecca’s parents had paid US$2,000 (RM6,040) to a “YouTube popstar factory”, according to TechCrunch writer Alexia Tsotsis, to produce the song and music     video. The rest is social media history.
Granted, it is not as easy to get a viral hit as I am making it sound. Still, it appears that a new “viral” video hits the interweb every few days.
Is it time to redefine what exactly “viral” means? Is it enough that the video has a large viewership or do we need to consider other factors as well? Could viral videos be the next one-hit wonders?
I feel that we should let the “viral” be. After all, people usually share videos because they enjoy it (or have something against it). In that sense, the purpose of the videos itself has served its purpose.
However, it is a different game altogether gauging the success of a viral video or campaign. In the case of Rebecca Black, it remains to be seen if she will have another hit, or hits, like Justin Bieber, the YouTube sensation before her.

The original YouTube sensation!

Justin has gone beyond just raking in the numbers of viewership on YouTube; his success can be seen in his many hit songs and albums, as well as sold-out concerts around the globe. Rebecca will need to break out of YouTube to maintain her popularity.
Then, there is also the kind of impact that the video will make. Earlier this week, it was announced that another YouTube viral video in the form of Annoying Orange (www.youtube.com/user/realannoyingorange) – which is basically short stories featuring an annoying talking orange – will hit the TV screens.
Reports state the annoying fruit will feature in six 30-minute episodes.
Another to gauge the success of a viral video is via its ability to stand the test of time. At the moment, there’s no telling if the T-Mobile video will be remembered in a couple of years. However, its existence has immortalised another video in the viral videos hall of fame.
In 2009, a video called JK Wedding Entrance Dance boasted three million views in 10 days (and over 64 million to date). It featured a dance routine as the wedding couple walked down the isle, and is the inspiration for the T-Mobile Royal Wedding video.
Parodies, responses and tributes from other people, especially celebrities,  are also a good way to see if your viral video made its mark.

Niki occasionally creates videos too, except they’re nowhere close to becoming viral. Subscribe to his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/nikicheong.