Personal Opinion Blog- When "Viral" really just means "Sick"

While enjoying my April 24th Variety section of the Star Tribune my eyes veered away from the article on hay bale gardening to a photo of a beautiful beachy-blonde young woman cradling a small dog in her lap; the title of the piece YouTube queen has a billion 'friends'. Within the first paragraph my dreams of an article about a socially conscious young woman who lobbies to save homeless animals or was protesting puppy mills were crushed with extreme prejudice. This viral video vixen, Jenna Mourey, better known as Jenna Marbles, is no activist and I'm questioning the existence of her conscience, social or otherwise.

Miriam Webster Online defines "viral" [Def. 1] as "of , relating to, or caused by a virus", follow "viral" to "virus" [Def. 1] and you get "the causative agent of infectious disease". To be fair there are plenty of viruses and viral videos that one can praise for their positive societal potentials, take oncolytic viral therapy (using specific viral agents to combat cancer) and pretty much every TED talk (not all viral by definition of a million plus views but I'm biased), not to mention a million feline YouTube sensations that have more accurate moral compasses than Miss Marbles. Caustic as it may seem, I view Miss Marbles as a viral video sensation of the diseased variety that reduces social media to nothing more than the necrotizing of our cultural tissue.

Obviously I am not a fan, but then again I am not in her viewing demographic. The Star Tribune (2013) reports that seventy-five percent of her viewership is comprised of females ages thirteen to seventeen, which as a mother of three, two within the core age group, makes me queasy (p. E3). During the video Drunken Explanations Miss Marbles proceeds to become increasingly inebriated while dropping the "F" bomb as well as several other expletives while showing how getting drunk and then explaining things to others is very annoying...at least I think that was the point. There are other videos: How to apply makeup when you are already in the bag from drinking all day("Drunk Makeup Tutorial"), vomiting oatmeal because you are still drunk in the morning, and the list goes on. While she has episodes on social issues most of them are so laced with profanity you would think you were watching a public service announcement scripted by Quentin Tarantino.

As critical as I am of Miss Marbles moral fiber I have to praise her on ingenuity and impeccable self marketing skills. The Star Tribune (2013) reports that "She has more Facebook fans than actress Jennifer Lawrence, more Twitter followers than Fox News (well, that's not terribly surprising) and more Instagram friends than Oprah" (p. E1). Her YouTube page shows more than 8.7 million subscribers and 1.1 billion views. It is estimated that she has or has the ability to make six-figures at this profession and the star herself sees no need to necessarily "translate to mainstream media" to be successful (Star Tribune, 2013, p. E3). She is obviously correct.

Now, in turning my motherly frown upside down, just like there is potential for using deadly viruses to successfully attack cancer cells there is unlimited potential to use viral videos to successfully attack social problems on a global scale; i.e. poverty, disease, human rights abuses. I couldn't help but keep hearing the mantra "creative capitalism" in my head. Just think, six figures to benefit a local food shelf, six figures to donate directly to HIV/AIDS research, six figures for small business loans for women Africa. So while this blog is a criticism of Miss Marbles and her brand of entertainment for self profit at the expense of adolescent and teen viewers intelligence it is a great example for a successful social media business template. After all, the article alone stopped me from reading about gardening and got me thinking about the power of social media.

SOURCES:

O'Leary, A. (2013, April 24). Star Tribune, pp. E-1 & E-3.

Viral [Def. 1]. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved May 12, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citation.

Virus [Def. 1]. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved May 12, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citation.