04. Viral communication to its best
What it Is:
Daft Punk scored an average hit with the dance floor tune “Harder Better, Faster Stronger” in 2001. Now the song made a revival on Youtube. A guy has made a video clip for the song filming just his hands. He’d written the lyrics of the song on his fingers and he would show them during the song following the tune. He called it ‘Daft Hands’. It looks brilliant and has already been watched 15 million times on YouTube.
Great stuff, but it the viral doesn’t stop there. Two college girls from California decided to do the Daft Hands idea with lyrics painted on body parts, called Daft Bodies. It has been watched over 4 million times. Less than ‘Daft Hands’ but even so four times as much as the original 2001 Daft Punk clip.
Why it's cool:
These are powerful examples of amateurs doing a better job than the pros: the original clip has been watched just one million times. And: there are over 800 people now that have made their own Daft Hands version on YouTube. 150 people did the same with Daft Bodies.
Science of the Time’s interpretation:
Real persons just for fun outdoing the clever professionals is always fun and cool. Besides that, this example shows the power and the dynamics of viral communication in the era of the platform Internet. It is the viral of the viral.