Getting Clicks Online: The Cybercommandments

Aug. 10, 2007 — -- There are hundreds of millions of videos posted on YouTube, the largest video-sharing Web site on the Internet.

The most popular have millions of "clicks," get passed around in e-mails and are imitated and talked about. Yet some videos are viewed only two or three times. What's the difference? We analyzed hundreds of videos, talked to experts, and herewith, a little advice.

So you want to become a YouTube star? Well, join the crowd. Every day hundreds of thousands of videos are shot and uploaded onto the site.

Some are funny like those showing babies laughing hysterically. Some are instructional — you can learn how to throw a curveball, tie-dye, even poach eggs. But most just make you go, "Huh?"

Syracuse University professor and pop culture critic Bob Thompson spent three hours a day watching and analyzing YouTube videos for one month.

"YouTube is kind of like a garage sale, or an antique dealership. There may be a couple of real treasures amidst those heaps of absolute garbage. What YouTube has to do is kind of sift that stuff out," said Thompson. And like a great piece of gossip, the best video gems get e-mailed around.

Some video gems have created celebrities. There's even a word for them: weblebrities. And for the first time this summer, they had their own awards show: the webby film & video awards. It's the Internet equivalent of the Oscars.

'Being Traditional and Saying Thanks'

That was Jessica Rose's acceptance speech after winning an award for best actress. Her wildly popular series, lonelygirl, has millions of hits on YouTube and has turned her into a mainstream star.

The co-creators of the breakout comedy series Ask a Ninja also picked up an award for best actor. They told use that the key to their show's popularity was "Surprise, heart and trying to be faster and funnier than 13-year-old brains."

So how do some videos break out of the pack and become hits? The odds are astronomical. The equivalent of six hours of video are uploaded onto YouTube every minute.

I asked Thompson whether there's a secret recipe for success on YouTube. "The first rule of YouTube dynamics," he said, "is you've got to keep it short. Seven minutes is YouTube's 'War and Peace'! If it can't be done in two or three minutes, you very quickly drop off in your likelihood of getting e-mailed to other people."

In fact, some YouTube hits last only five seconds like "Drama prairie dog." It shows an animal staring into the camera accompanied by the theme music from the movie "Star Wars." It has more than 4 million clicks on YouTube.

So, after an in-depth investigation, here are some tips for making a YouTube blockbuster:

Rule #1: Keep It Short

Of course, whatever you post has to grab your attention.

Rule #2: The Freakier the Better

Thompson told us, "P.T. Barnum knew this in the 19th century. The freak show aspect. A cat using a toilet. Huge on YouTube. That whole 'I can't believe I'm seeing this kind of thing.'"

Maybe that's why the offbeat and surreal "Shoes" video starring comedian Liam Sullivan has close to 3½ million hits. OK, so it's not "War and Peace," but on YouTube, it's a classic.

Rule #3: Looks Matter

On the Internet, high production value can give you an edge because so much looks junky.

"Stunning tricks … production stuff," said Thompson. "There's one going on right now that's unbelievably cool in stop motion animation. [The video] "Tony vs. Paul" is one of those things when you see it, you think, 'Wow, how did they do this?'"

They do it by stringing together thousands of freeze frames. It's an animation technique called stop motion video and it mimics the herky jerky look of old silent movies.

One of the co-creators of the video, Paul Cummings, told us, "We wanted to be just like that old school look and people are watching and they go, 'Oh cool effects.' Has that clunky but fun look."

Cummings and Tony Fiandaca met at college. Now they both live outside of Boston. The two spent countless hours and just $200. They shot all the interior scenes in Cummings' apartment and the exterior scenes in neighboring towns. They used Cummings' Apple computer to edit it. They never expected their small project to become such a big hit.

"We had this big goal in our heads of 10,000 viewers," Paul said. "If we get 10,000 [hits] we'd feel like megastars, you know? And now it's over 3 million. It's gotten us so much exposure."

Fiandaca, who is featured in the video battling Cummings, has exposed himself in "tighty whities" to more than 3 million people!

New York Times TV and Web critic Virginia Heffernan told us it's the special effects like the flying scenes in "Tony vs. Paul" that get viewers hooked.

I asked them how they did the flying scenes. Fiandaca told me, "We jump into the air, and as it's being filmed, we pull the high point of the jump and just lace all of those shots together."

Now Cummings and Fiandaca are flying high. Nestle just hired them to make three online videos for a Butterfinger candy bar contest.

They personify Rule # 4: Passion Pays

"Put something out there that you love," Cummings said, "and other people are gonna love it."

While some YouTubers are hoping for a shot at mainstream fame, mainstream media are increasingly turning to YouTube to grab younger viewers.

"There's definitely an interesting sort of predator/prey, hunter/hunted relationship going on in both directions," Heffernan said.

Former ABC News producer Holly Peterson agrees.

"Whether it's Newsweek or ABC News or Time Magazine, it's not enough just to be on paper or television. You've got to go into the Web."

Peterson has just written a juicy new novel about male nannies called "The Manny." To get some media buzz for the book, Peterson, her cousin Jay Peterson and another producer Michael Jaffe made a music video about "The Manny" and launched it on YouTube in late June. Jay Peterson says they chose YouTube because it attracts a young, cool demographic.

"If you can make it so that kids are like, 'You're reading "The Manny"? That's the hip video. Come watch it with me.' It makes moms hip in their kids' eyes, more than a traditional television commercial or Oprah."

"The Manny" video is a strategic recipe: a little music, a little humor, a little raunchiness. For this newest of media, the oldest rule in the book …

Rule #5: Sex Sells

Peterson and producers pushed their video onto the MySpace home page and other Web sites including mommy blogs to help it go viral. Three weeks after release, the "Manny" video got 40,000 hits and Peterson's book hit The New York Time's best-sellers list.

We now know the rules of the YouTube game — it's time to put them to a test. We set off like Steven Spielberg to direct our own Internet hit.

We shot five different videos and posted them on YouTube July 2.

The first — something intentionally bland: "Woman Waiting for Bus." Believe it or not, there are hundreds of videos of people waiting for buses on YouTube!

For video No. 2 — add a little sex appeal: "Hot woman Waiting for Bus." And yes — after three weeks, twice as many clicks.

Take three — add freaky: " Hot Woman With Singing Dog." This also doubled the number of clicks.

No. 4 — since YouTubers love ninjas, we threw in a martial arts fight scene: "Ninja Attacks Hot Woman Waiting for Bus."

And for our final video, a little of everything …sexy woman, music, singing dog, martial arts …even some "Tony & Paul" style stop motion: "Hot Woman Waiting for Bus with Singing Dog Fights With Ninja."

So, how'd we do? Well let's see. Compared to Peterson's video, which got 55,000 hits or the "Tony & Paul" video, which got 3 million, or even "Prairie dog," which got 4 million … we got just more than 100 hits. That's it — 100! Well, maybe we won't be going to the webby awards next year, but you can still check out our videos at i-caught.com.