YouTube’s ‘upcoming’ viral video trends
Howard Lake | 4 April 2014 | Blogs
Although it was published on 31 March and designed for April Fool’s Day, ‘YouTube Announces Upcoming Viral Video Trends #newtrends‘ might still inspire genuine fads and memes that take off, and which charities could take advantage of or benefit from.
Some of the proposed future trends that YouTube will “meticulously craft” are in dubious taste – I can’t see the “Baby shaming” meme going down well with children’s charities. And ‘elaborate divorces‘ won’t be appearing on Relate’s Facebook page anytime soon.
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]http://youtu.be/0YUbYohGMOg[/youtube]
But plenty of others could conceivably become genuine trends and opportunities for charities and fundraisers.
‘Ribbon lining‘ is perfect for charities with fundraising events. Plenty have already adopted this approach to thank selected sponsored runners.
‘Clocking‘ is so daft it is bound to catch on. Charity uses? Any issue or event with a countdown, or that focuses on time, such as WWF’s Earth Hour.
The ‘Glub Glub Water Dance‘ could prove popular with supporters of clean water and sanitation charities.
‘Kissing dad‘ could work for male health charities, with supporters showing how much they love their father.
The best meme of course is ‘$1,000 gifting’. The idea of random acts of kindness is well established, and, although the ‘random’ element hardly conforms with the notion of targeted and effective giving, I can imagine some charity coming up with a twist that promotes major or mid-level giving on video.
Plenty of charities should be pleased that apparently the Harlem Shake will make a return…
So, no, YouTube does not have ‘meme inventors’. As #nomakeupselfie demonstrated, it is the public that comes up with the strange and ever so occasionally viral videos that can benefit charities.
YouTube might have been joking with this video, but many a true video filmed in jest…
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.