Filed under: political humor | Tags: astley, humor, internet, news, rick, rolled, viral
SNL is becoming politically savvy, critiquing the current political race with heated satire. Check out this new SNL skit.
GOTCHA. Sorry, I know its played out, but it amazes me that people are still using the ‘rick roll’ prank. Does it continue because or despite millions of Americans have seen it? Who knows?
News coverage and dissemination are faced with a growing problem. Once they deliver their content through whatever medium they use, stories then become subject to the infectious power of the internet – especially sites like youtube. News becomes viral. It spreads through the web like an outbreak – rampant and decentralized.
There is no faster mechanism spreading ideas. Both instantaneous and worldwide, the internet creates its own hype, buzz, and fads without the impetus of traditional organizations.
One prime example is the rick rolled phenomenon. Search any in-demand topic, like an upcoming album, video game, etc, and you’re sure to find some rick rolling. I’m pretty sure most people have seen or heard about this, but here is one of my favorites.
Its hard to say exactly when this started, but rumor has it that it started on a video game forum where links to interesting content would instead just link you to a ‘duckroll.’
who'd wanna fall under those wheels?
Somewhere along the way, Rick Astley’s song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ got inserted in its place.
The typical formula is to have about 5-10 seconds of appropriate content, then assault you with an amazingly 80s drum roll, immediately followed by clips of Rick in his (now) iconic trench coat and turtleneck.
Most of the rick rolling videos started around April Fool’s Day, 2008. Sites like Fark, Digg, and Reddit all linked to the Muppets video.
Things pretty much got out of hand and a bonanza started – and still continues – of rick rolling in pretty much any situation.
This extended into the mainstream media. A particular news station choose to report on the craze by spoofing one of its own anchors.
The internet has the capability of creating dialogue within itself at such velocity that traditional coverage has trouble keeping up. When a story breaks today, it is almost always on the internet first or immediately after, and begins an organic transformation through humor.
In this blog, I will follow stories as they hit the net and see what the group intelligence of the web does to them. Not many hard news outlets cover these trends with any seriousness. I believe, however, that what the internet does to stories – with satires, parodies, and pranks – show us the mentality of a large segment of people.
rick astley's youtube stats, 20 years after his song
Rick Astley and internet memes may not seem newsworthy. But when millions of people watch – and participate – we can’t simply turn around and desert you…er them.
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