But I must be honest. I just don't get it. I just don't get how these kinds of poppy annoying silly videos (in the annoyingly silly sense), actually manage to get this many hits. Are we that curious that we just have to keep on watching what move he does next?
So just how many hits am I talking about? On receiving an email with the link yesterday, I was told it was on 410 million hits - up from 395 million on Sunday. On opening said link today, it was on 419 already. That's 419 MILLION hits.
A while back I did some creative strategising about how virality could be influenced, naming it 'infection inspection' = influencing interjection to inspire connection.
Malcolm Gladwell calls it The Tipping Point. That 'moment' when all seems to take on its own momentum due to key catalysts of influence. I wonder if there is a formula or if it is the magic of serendipity combined with the conceptual simplicity of a good idea easily shared...
What was interesting to note is that Psy, the Korean musician behind this K-pop cult hit, released his first song in 2001. In the music world, if you read into the bios of most music 'success stories', the seemingly overnight success type, well they all seem to have been going for at least 10 years before getting their first big break. Sure, that's changing with the internet as a channel to push flash mob type interest, but it holds quite true for most success stories. Success = hard work and passion. Consider SA's Die Antwoord when Enter the Ninja exploded across the interweb overnight! Waddy Jones had been going for many years before that song broke them internationally.
In another of Gladwell's books he speaks about how 10,000 hours of experience creates an expert. Bill Gates was his key example. Dear Bill happened to be in thee place that had the first on-campus computer in the US. Therefore dear Bill was able to play around with this megalith of a thing and figure out what it was capable of long before most people had caught wind of what a computer was.
So if 10 years or 10,000 hours an expert maketh, that makes most of us an expert in what we do. But do we hone, harness, help and honour our skills?
And then the 10-year-plus-writing-editing-linguist in me got curious. While sounding rather crude, what does this 'Gangnam style' actually mean? According to UrbanDictionary.com, Gangnam in Korean means south (nam) and river (gang). So this is actually about an area in the city of Seoul, capital of South Korea. Expansion of Seoul and development of Gangnam (south of the Han River) started in the 1970s, and Gangnam is the icon of the rapid economic development of South Korea in 1970s and 80s, with Gangname becoming the wealthiest area in the whole of South Korea.
Hence, 'Gangnam style' refers to the cool, trendy swagger style of the wealthy. What is then even more interesting is that Seoul was World Design Capital 2010, and that closer to home, Cape Town is World Design Capital 2014. And in the spirit of all things design and cities, and ideas worth spreading...
A global day of inspiration is going down on 13 October 2012, motivated by TheCity2.org to inspire, celebrate and activate citizen powered change!
TheCity2.0 was awarded the annual TED Prize and so now the concept of local TEDx events around the world, entitled TEDxCity2.0, are taking place. TEDxCapeTown is one of 60+ cities who have arranged an exciting line up of local speakers to share insights and ideas around what the city2.0 means to them from their unique lens.
On chatting about the bizarre virality of what makes people watch things Gangnam style, and also wondering just how many have tried to re-create the crazy ride-a-pony style dance moves he does, I am left wondering if we watch these kinds of videos just because other people watch them?
Are we just sheep? To which Bernelle Verster, the amazing main organiser behind TEDxCapeTown.org as a platform of incredible online videos, sent me this:
So in the zeitgeist of the (sometimes ridiculous) times we live in, I suggested we weave in the way that music helps to tell the stories of cities Gangnam style (cos I would never have known about this area in Seoul if it wasn't for this silly song)... and all this is very much aligned to the TEDxCity event on Saturday at which we have Trenton Birch, of Trenton and Free Radical, will be just one of the speakers - his focus being music + cities.
To which Bernelle added that we should go one step further, and create 'Camnam style' for all things cool in Cape Town. The Cam from Camissa, the name given to the Cape as it means 'place of sweet waters', which is sort of centralised to Table Mountain! So Camnam = Cam (mountain) and nam (south), south of the iconic mountain that frames Cape Town!
'Camnam style' is our local is lekker version of the area south of the mountain... now we just need to get the whole world doing the Camnam dance...
While tickets to TEDxCity2.0 sold out fast, anyone, anywhere can host their very own simulcast screening as the TEDxCapeTown City2.0 is being livestreamed, find out more.
Rock (dance) on Camnam style...
x
2 comments:
wop wop! :D
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