Learn Bed Intruder Basics in Gawker TV Editor's 'How to Go Viral' Class

Some say you can learn all you want about art -- technique, history, theory -- but, if you don't have that certain je ne sais quoi, your work won't be exquisite. Viral videos, perhaps, are kinda the same. So when Gawker.TV's Richard Blakeley sets out to teach a class to marketers on "how to go viral," it may be a little pointless. Sure, corporations have most certainly gotten it right, like the inimitable Old Spice Guy, but Blakeley's "six elements" for going viral seems to oversimplify something that has a tremendous amount to do with luck, the current media climate and good, old-fashioned humor. (For instance, why Isaiah Mustafa but not those grating E*TRADE baby ads?)

Still, the class only runs for an affordable $15 at New York's General Assembly. Apparently, Blakeley and the Assembly are friends, so it's safe to assume that, when the collective started offering classes, they asked the Gawker guy to explain what he knows best: Internet videos. Speaking primarily to marketers, Blakeley is hoping to teach that undefinable "x-factor" to hopefuls wanting to capture that hungry, hungry public looking for the next cool thing. Though he claims to have a sense of what can go viral, the issue is that, if there were a clear-cut path to viral videos, wouldn't every new campaign be a hit? Being self-aware and having a tiny budget does not a viral video make.

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Learn Bed Intruder Basics in Gawker TV Editor's 'How to Go Viral' Class originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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