Gabriel Delahaye at Videogum has come to the conclusion that we may have already seen the golden age of internet viral videos, like the epic weirdo tour de force embedded above. "It was in 2006, and it was great," he says, "But it's all downhill from here on out" From his blog post:
In a recent post, I made a throwaway joke about how sometimes the internet works really hard to provide us with something new, and sometimes it just lays some Sarah Palin audio on top of some Miss South Carolina footage and calls it a day. As an example of a viral video in which the internet surprised us with its cleverness and ingenuity, I linked to the "Valentine for a Perfect Stranger" video. If you haven't seen it, it's one of the funniest and also weirdest viral videos in the short but storied history of viral videos. In fact, I would be hard pressed to think of another viral video that is as uniquely odd and wonderful.
In that same recent post, I linked to a few viral videos as examples of the internet's ingenuity. They were just the videos that stood out in my mind as being exceptional. You know, the viral video that is more than just some kid farting a powder cloud or a kitten that is also a ninja. The one you talk to your friends about. And what I discovered is that all of them were posted to YouTube in 2006. Begging the question, has the golden age of viral video already passed? Are we now living in its decline?
Observe…
Was 2006 The Golden Age Of Viral Videos? (Videogum)
