Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The Viral Effects of Wikipedia and YouTube

“The Viral Effects of Wikipedia and YouTube” by Thomas Nardacci

On Saturday August 26, 2006, the Times Union carried an Associated Press story by Jake Coyle about Stephen Colbert’s (Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report”) use of the web for viral marketing. The article specifically pointed to Colbert’s encouragement of viewers to post information on Wikipedia and create videos for YouTube.

In the past year Wikipedia and YouTube have exploded. Just last month, over 2 million people flocked to YouTube to watch a home video of Britney Spears. Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” picked up on a YouTube clip where an unsuspecting Virginia Senator (and Republican presidential hopeful) George Allen was caught on tape calling a college volunteer from his opponent’s campaign the word “macaca.” The volunteer was of Indian descent. The video has been viewed over 220,000 times. It made its way from the internet to Comedy Central to discussion by political analysts and Wolf Blitzer on CNN (“Slip or Slur,” a 3 minute news clip that pointed out that the definition of macaca has racial overtones). The Washington Post later carried a story where Allen apologized. In general, most political campaigns and issue advocacy groups now post their web ads and TV ads on YouTube. When a Georgetown Law student caught a Comcast cable repair man on video napping on his couch during a service call, he took to the internet. That video has been viewed over 200,000 times and raised questions about the company’s service record. The story also ended up on MSNBC with Keith Olberman and in the New York Times.

These sites are user driven. Like blogs, they create tremendous opportunities to reach consumers directly and position an organization. As Stephen Colbert and his producers have repeatedly demonstrated, a little creativity can go a long way. But, more often, these sites are not used for proactive marketing, but rather take companies by surprise by portraying them in a negative light. Some Wikipedia listings have become factual battlegrounds with unscrupulous people altering listings with untrue information.

A single click of a mouse creates the opportunity to reach thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of people.