Earlier this week YouTube announced its most watched videos of the year. As you might expect its largely made up of funny pets, amusing babies and bizarre musical performances, however there are also some science, nature, and technology related videos clocking up the clicks! It is reassuring to know that people are using online content to learn about the world and what’s going on, and not just watching Nyan Cat!
The following are just a few notable hard-hitters from the past twelve months
Whilst recently we braced ourselves for “Hurricane Bawbag” (and amusing videos such as Trampoline Trampoline resulted), nature dealt a very different hand to Japan in March. Online video platforms have made footage from natural disasters more widespread and raw. People all around the globe watched the devastation unfold as amateur footage and news reports were posted every few seconds. This video of the tsunami hitting, destroying everything in its path, captured the fierce power of nature like we’d never seen it before and gave the world a shocking sense of the scale of this disaster. With over 20 million hits it is one of the most watched videos globally for the year.
Capturing the nicer side of nature, this next video shows how it can be breathtaking and beautiful.Two girls witnessed a murmuration of starlings, whilst out canoeing on the river Shannon in Ireland, and got it all on video. It has clocked up almost 7 million hits on Vimeo. The footage shows the precision and harmony of the birds flying in unison. Each bird copies the bird ahead, reacting within millisecond resulting in ripples and waves of movement throughout the murmuration. Videos like this one may be our only opportunity to view this phenomenon it is increasingly rare in the UK due to a decrease in the amount of suitable nests for the birds.
From birds of nature to a man-made one. This video is about a fun invention that excited the audience during a TED Talk in Edinburgh last July. With a back catalogue of over 1,000 video lectures (by well-spoken tech-savvy speakers covering a wide spectrum of topics) , in June this year TED Talks celebrated their fifth online anniversary and over 500 million hits! TED Talks prove that in order for a video to go viral it doesn’t have to be asinine and silly; thankfully smart, engaging content has a substantial audience too.
Finally on the subject of the internet it’s hard to let the year go by without acknowledging the passing of Steve Jobs. The fact that an advert predicting innovations for the iphone 5 has almost 40 million views shows the amazing impact his work has had on technology and on our lives. In the midst of all the video tributes posted following his death, in the end it was his own words that echoed the loudest and had the most impact. A commencement speech which he gave in Stanford in 2005 has clocked up over 13 million views since his death in October, and no doubt will continue to be watched years to come.
When it comes to viral videos hugging kittens, talking dogs and laughing babies may dominate, however video platforms are also a great opportunity. Through them we can learn, see things we would otherwise never see and share laughs and tears with people all over the world!
Visit YouTube Rewind to see more popular videos from the year.
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