Let Your Freak Flag Fly!

By now we are way beyond talking about viral videos in class but still, I continue to find things that could be considered viral and at least think about them in that sense. But ever since we watched the "Songs in Real Life" videos I keep going back to them because they're entertaining as ever and whoever thought of them is a genius. So I got to thinking, who exactly did come up with such an idea? Well, his name is Steve Kardynal or more commonly known as the chatroulette guy. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do for four minutes of laughter and ridiculousness but you've been warned, it's not completely appropriate. It took me nearly forever to make the connection between the two videos but once I did I began my quest to surf through his YouTube page and watch as many of his "music videos" that I could handle. Steve Kardynal is mostly known to dress in the similar style of said singer he's posing as then visit the local Apple store to record himself mimicking the song. Among them are Eminen's "Love the Way you Lie," Katy Perry's "Firework" and my current favorite, Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" A somewhat fitting theme for his little shenanigans, I'd say.

I'm sure he doesn't make a fool of himself because he wants something from it or to be famous, especially because he simply made his chatroulette video through the art of "trolling" unsuspecting viewers, but it's cool to see that his YouTube channel has such a following. Each of the videos he posts has at least one million views. I love the idea of using social media for more than simply brand or company awareness, though in a way the idea of brand awareness still applies. For example, who Kardynal is and how people recognize him (when they do) is essentially his the way he has branded himself. His videos allow him to continue building his brand on the Internet and how people see him each time a new video is posted to the channel or an old one is viewed for the first, second or hundredth time. Much like people who follow real brands and companies, his followers might expect frequent updates from him or desire more silly and entertaining YouTube videos.

So to me, it's neat to see the same approaches to social media in PR used for an entirely different purpose.