People love looking at babies doing funny or silly or weird things. That’s why my friend Adam’s video, “Fatherhood is confounding the baby with new sounds.,” has gone viral in two days. Among others: 350,000+ hits on YouTube, Inside Edition last night, Good Morning America today, and he’s signed release forms for Jimmy Kimmel and Ellen. Edit: the video was on Jimmy Kimmel last night!
The video began as something for friends and family who follow his blog, Fatherishood (an account of he and his wife’s experiences parenting newborn twins), to enjoy. He posted it on Facebook, and soon it turned viral, as many of his Facebook friends predicted.
Going viral is usually organic (unless there’s a company putting thousands of dollars into promoting something on Twitter or Facebook), and it’s something for which you can’t really plan. Check out Adam’s follow-up blog post; his reflections on the past 48 hours of viral insanity talk about how he couldn’t possibly have planned for this!
My best advice for him or anyone who has something go viral: ignore the commenters on YouTube. Of the 260 (currently) comments on the video, I’d say 90% are ridiculous. Some are downright mean and 100% ignorant. Comment sections for videos and articles and blogs are meant to encourage discussion (worthwhile discussion, presumably), but most of the time, they’re a playground for idiocy. Reading the comment sections of most things makes me disheartened at the general intelligence level of humanity.
P.S.: Congrats baby Charlotte on your first viral video sensation! Don’t let it go to your beautiful little head. Or, rather, don’t let anyone tell you anything. Just keep listening to your dad’s motorboating.