YouTube Style: Is There A Secret Sauce?

I know I'm late to the game (I must be showing my age), but I'm a little obsessed with the following music video:

It's a little ridiculous to be sure, but at the same time it's catchy as all hell. I've also developed a crush on Hyuna.. but that's probably a subject for a whole other post. :)

As I watched this video a few times, it really made me think about one of my other favorite videos by LMFAO.

I mused at my observation, but then I read this article today and I decided to take a closer look. If you don't want to read it, the short version is that Gangnam Style is the most "liked" video on YouTube, and Party Rock is #2. There is a wide margin here, but still- it got me thinking: Is there a secret formula to making a viral music video?

For this comparison, I will list a theme and then list the time code in each video where it's exhibited. Let's take a look at the similarities:

Overall ridiculousness of clothing and dance moves: Throughout both videos
Treble reduced, Deep Bass Introduction: PR-0:50, GS-:04
Loud, synthesized  bridge: PR-1:38, GS-0:17 (To be fair, PR crescendos into the volume)
Really cool break dancing by featured performer: PR-2:02 (Boxhead), GS-0:22 (Little Kid)
Crescendo of music followed by a lower, smoother verse: PR-2:38, GS-1:43
Addition of featured female artist: PR- 4:12 (Laura Bennet), GS-2:12 (Hyuna)
Featured female does sexually suggestive dance moves: PR- 4:29, GS-2:16
Crescendo featuring a screen effect that flips between multiple cameras: PR-4:51, GS-2:28
Final scene involves the entire (motley) cast of the video dancing up a storm: PR-4:59, GS-3:19
Abrupt Stop: PR-5:57, GS-3:37

So I have to ask- Was this deliberate? Or a complete coincidence?

PS- Further to my point, as I pulled up the Link for the Party Rock video, here is what my webpage looked like. I'm sure some marketer somewhere knows that if you liked Party Rock, you will definitely like Gangnam Style! Of course- maybe it's just a coincidence?

I can haz Gangnam Style whilst I Part Rock?

Application Overload

I'm addicted to the internet. There, I said it. I have plenty of friends who are addicted to coffee, smoking, sleeping, etc. In my mind, I could have far worse hobbies.

Part of my addiction to the internet is wanting to try out the latest and greatest applications on the web. In marketing they call people like me the "bleeding edge"... those early adopters who are out seeking new products just so they can be the first ones to have it. One of the most important points in the definition of bleeding edge is that there is no consensus on how things should be done!

This is becoming very obvious to me as I am really starting to get more ingrained into this world that we call social media. As an example, when I first got Twitter I started using Seesmic web on my home computer, but hated how they sent me emails all of the time about their tweets, so then I switched to Tweetdeck, which was working perfectly fine. However, I've been doing some more research and decided to check out HootSuite, as it had the web component of Seesmic, and seemed to have some good features (including being able to link to ping.fm). I'm sure that by next month, there will be some other great new program or application out there to rival HootSuite, but I guess thats just how it goes in this crazy new space.


My willingness to try new things will ultimately get me to a better place I think, but the passion I have makes me wade through a lot of crap, including signing up for new services (and then deleting them) when I realize they aren't what I'm looking for.
Random thought: (Here's a great website that helps you delete profiles on most major social sites)

I'm really considering making a full flow chart for how my social media is all connected, as I think it could help me organize things... but that sounds like a project for another weekend when I'm not busy checking out new web apps!

What about you? Do you ever get bogged down with all of the choice out there? Or do you just stick to the big popular platforms?