Have you made your Harlem Shake video yet? The viral video meme, which started on Feb. 2 – yes, just 23 days ago, has been embraced by office workers, college students and countless others. YouTube reported that more than 100,000 Harlem Shake-related videos have been uploaded to the video platform.
Above is the Harlem Shake video we shot during the SearchFest marketing conference in Portland on Friday. Here is a Harlem Shake playlist that YouTube created to some of the other popular videos. Here is a great article from the Wall Street Journal on why the Harlem Shake matters. Basically, the widespread and quick adoption of the meme may mark a change in how we use YouTube.
In just these last few weeks, the videos (in aggregate) have been viewed more than 400 million times.
That traction, along with everyone copying the same basic formula for the videos, has also lifted DJ Baauer’s original Harlem Shake song to the No. 1 on the Hot 100, Billboard’s chart that beginning last week has teamed up with YouTube to make view counts part of the rankings.
While not everyone has heard of the meme or seen any of the videos, that doesn’t mean they aren’t watching videos. ComScore reported its January online video rankings last week, informing us that about 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.2 billion online content videos in the first month, while the number of video ad views reached 9.1 billion. Just as the U.S. average household spends $2,000 a year at Wal-Mart, if you are not spending the money or watching the videos, someone is taking up your share.
Google’s YouTube continues to be the 800 pound guerrilla in the room, with 150 million unique viewers on the platform in January, followed by Facebook.com with 57 million, VEVO with 50.1 million, NDN with 49.1 million and Yahoo! Sites with 43.7 million.