Beyond The Viral Video

Dogs, cats, babies, TikTok trends… we scroll through them mindlessly. But what if viral videos are doing more to our world than we realise?

 

Description

Genre: Social Interest
Language: English
Year: 2020

Duration: 3 Episodes x 60 Minutes
Territory/Rights available: Contact us for more details
Show Format: HD

Episodes

Episode 1 – Should We Be Afraid of TikTok?
Why is a platform for silly videos banned in the US and India? And why would such a ban hit India’s rural poor? Is there more to TikTok than we presume?

In our debut episode, we put two TikTok-obsessed families through an experiment, to see if TikTok knows more about their family members, than the families themselves. We examine the impact TikTok already has on the music billboard charts. We see how the app can be used to embarrass even the world’s most powerful man – the US President. We shine the spotlight on the algorithm TikTok uses to feed you the videos you get to watch, and see how that has upended the high school logic of popularity, by giving the underdogs the spotlight they never used to have on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We see how TikTok is connecting illiterate audiences where no social media platform has been before.

Has the best thing to happen to social media in a long while become the victim of a global power struggle?

Episode 2 – Cashing In On Cuteness
The top 10 viral videos we watch year after year, always include those that feature children or animals; and more often than not… a cat. Ever wonder why? We examine the intriguing appeal of cat videos and the science behind sharing. The answers may surprise you.

Ever guilty of sharing a cute animal video? We scrutinise some of the most adorable animal videos out there, to see how some of them may well be acts of cruelty; and how others featuring wild animals may in fact be fuelling a cruel trade.

Money has changed the world of viral videos. The business of grabbing eyeballs online is now a multimillion-dollar industry. With so much at stake, it raises the question: Are any of the jaw-dropping stunts we see in viral videos even for real? What about those kids in China performing amazing feats? We send a team across the middle kingdom to find the truth behind those clips.

You may never see a viral video the same way again.

Episode 3 – What Happens After Viral Fame?
A starring role in a Hollywood movie. A scholarship to a world class private school. Threats of eggs being thrown at your door.

These are just some of the things that can happen to you when you go viral online, whether by accident or on purpose. What else can 15 seconds of internet fame do to your life? How do influencers become popular on the internet and why do some chase it like a drug addiction? And can going viral change the world in ways you never expected?

Find out what happened to Ice Boy, the Cambodian kid that speaks many languages, S Hook lady, YouTuber Dax Flame, United Airlines’ David Dao, and the founder of Nas Daily after they went viral online.