Kony 2012 Video - Thoughts?

When it comes to social videos, KONY 2012 is one of the best. Even if individuals do not agree with its message or portrayal, I think everyone can agree that this video is extremely successful. People did not discover this video from the news, or discover it on their own; their friends posted it on their Facebook walls, or on their Twitter feed. While I have never viewed this video today, I knew about the KONY video from my friends on social media. This video's ability to become viral is what is so impactful about it.

I've known about the Invisible Children since high school and I still find this video to be very powerful. This video is a great example of how we can use the interenet to make the world aware of issues that may not have otherwise  been talked about. I know a lot of people who are now aware of these issues just because of the youtube video. I've probably had every one of my professors in my classes bring it up at least once this month.

I've heard of this video and the Kony 2012 movement but this was my first time watching it and I did in it's entirety. This movie is very impactful that shows plenty of emotion through out it to reach out and touch it's viewers. This works as a social video because it has gained so many viewers and Jason Russell knew it would get that large of an audience by posting it on YouTube. Russell has reached many new followers of his plan and this video has made it's way to many celebrities to help gain more powerful spokespeople behind Kony 2012. I think that this video can hit on everyones emotions and works for a great example of using a video for social media. 

I personally think that this video is very inspirational to get people involved in the cause. There are areas where I think trying for the emotional appeal was taken a little too far, and the video attempts to make you feel guilty for not having known about this before this video. Besides these things the video has approximately 82 million views, so what they are attempting to do is working. I am interested to see if East Lansing will be covered in Kony 2012 posters come April 20th. I witnessed many friends sharing the video on Twitter earlier in March, but I have not heard as much about it lately. It will be interesting to see if their social video makes the impact they are hoping it will.

I think that it is a good, strong, emotional video that really gets the point across and it hits home. I mean just look how the idea has spread. There has been a massive amount of attention given to Kony 2012 and it is ALL over social media. Until I watched the video just now, I really only knew it had to do with Invisible Children and that it was spreading like wildfire. As much as I think it was a powerful video, the number of people that stopped watching because it is 30 minutes long is probably immense. I’m not so sure it works that well as a social video because of it’s length. It is more of a short film on the internet. It has received 82 million views; however, how many of these views have been partial? I guess we’ll never know.

I have know about Kony for about 6 years now, I was convinced to join an Invisible Children Club at my High School where we did fundraiser to help spread the message. When I started college I was surprised at how many people did not know about the situation. I was relieved when I saw that this video came out and that it seemed to be spreading like wildfire. 

This video is a great example about how social media can be used not just as a way to keep upsated with what your friends are doing but as a way to spread important messages from all over the globe. 

I think the video is a great example to show us the power of social and how strong it will be if many people are getting involved in. However, it still brings doubts to me as well. First, people with less interest in this topic may turn away since the video is too long, so it may work even better if Knoy shorten it. The balance between content and length is needed to be reconsidered. Second, we should worry about the side effects of social media. Obviously, one particular reason for this video to go virus is because of human’s “emotions.” Knoy wants anyone to stop a bad guy. What if some followers react overly? Would it be an excuse for racial wars? People are so powerful when they are together but they are also dangerous at the same time, especially with their original existed emotion.  

The idea is still great and the method is worthy to be learned. Nevertheless, we should think more before we seek help from social media. If every company tries to recruit their customers in this way, will the social marketing place be too clouded and lose its order some days?

Always check your facts and the background before watching a viral video that is suppose to gain support through pledges or donating money. There is no arguing that Joseph Kony is a horrible, cruel man, but the man behind the Kony 2012 video, Jason Russell just made bigger news by being arrested at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 15. Russell was obviously under the influence of some drug or alcohol as photos on the web show him naked, on the street corner slapping the pavement with his hands. Maybe all this KONY 2012 pressure got the best of him. It is unfortunate that this event occurred, but it just makes this whole movement more sketchy.   

KONY has made a huge impact on audiences throughout the world, with the emotional and physical terror of the story. It does work as social media because that is how it has spread to so many places, sending an important message for people to understand. It is amazing how fast social media spreads; one click and it can be downloaded to millions of places on the web. In this case social media worked for the greater good and the more people that are aware of this campaign, the more positive changes can be made in the world. I know this video made an impact on me, I watched it a few days ago after hearing murmurs about "KONY", then discovering what it is for myself. Social media uses the curious nature of people to its advantage, sometimes that's all it takes for a video or news story to become viral and known. 

I firstly saw this video through a Chinese social networking website. I was absorbed by the title endowed for the video - words like "the most popular", "watched by millions of people in several days", etc. The theme of this video calls for world justice, which is good enough to motivate many people to share the video to show their care about world peace and resentment to the huge crime conducted by Kony. Actually I have the same doubt as many people on the Internet, "did they really watch the full video?" "did they ever do some research about Kony by themselves?"

The truth is that social media has the force to make people believe and stand for a point of view without searching related information. I would definitily agree that with the involvement of all kinds of social media, this video did quite a successful job to spread its message to people over the world and make Kony famous as they hoped. In addition, it's the debate about the virtue of this video has made it even viral. I think it's quite necessary that different voices come out from social media, which would make people collect and analyze various, opposite views and then form their own. I would say that's the charm of social media.

I think ultimately it does work as a social video because there is a clear cause that is associated with it; people are able to easily figure out the meaning of it and the message it is trying to communicate. Also, it creates a sense of community and opportunity to gather or collaborate together with others. It's hard to say how impactful it is because I'm sure there are tons of causes that would be worthwhile to invest time in that I am not aware of, and even those that I am, I admit that I'm not active with. For instance, the late night infomercials asking you to donate pennies a day to feed starving children in a third-world country. Or those whose message is to lash out against animal cruelty and join the cause for the protection of our pets and wildlife. It made me wonder, "how many others on the international criminal list have we never heard of and what are their crimes?" I understand that Kony is number one on the list and that his crimes against humanity are despicable, but are there campaigns going on for others on that list? Is the person listed at number 24 or 17 not horrible enough to spread social media about? Also, I don't know how well it is going to work as far as catching Kony, to make him "famous", but I do think it is an interesting and unique concept. It was apparently able to "get the ball rolling" politically so to speak and spark an initiative from those in Washington, so I suppose that it could be seen as successful from a social video aspect. 

I don't even know if this video is appropriate to be discussed as an academic topic. (Sorry Derek)

About Kony 2012. I appreciate it as a shocking movie, but it eventually is about politics, and all politics programs are plots. I'm not sayingthe story is a plot. Koney IS an evil. What he's done is absolutely immoral and inhumane. However, something is hypocriticle here: as a story goes in the movie, There is a “Bad Guy” in Africa. At first, no one was paying attention to him, although he had committed numerous crimes. But under the appeal of the “peace-loving” Facebook and YouTube users, the “World Police” or “Uncle Sam” is finally gonna do something and arrest him for “justice.” And the result is, you, who have watched the video, are gonna support the movie, support the “World Police” or “Uncle Sam” to stay in Africa and “control” Africa as they ALWAYS DO.

Just my sense of politics, I guess. I don't feel comfortable with campaigns carried by United States towards any other countries. "Media is the weapon." This video goes viral because we have social media now. But hundred years ago when there was no social media, today's "Uncle Sam" killed millions of Native Americans. Who did care at that time????? HYPOCRITICLE!!!!!!

I saw the Kony video some time last week, and I immediately thought it had a lot of impact potential. Not only is it really well done, but it has a strong message that I think a lot of people need to hear about. I remember as soon as I was done watching, I thought to myself, “Why hasn’t this been on the news yet? Why hasn’t Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart or any of the other pundits that I rely on to be forward thinking and social media conscious addressed this?” I guess I thought it was so full of impact that the effects should be immediate. This is a quality that I think is super important for a video of this nature to have. It incites a sense of outrage upon completion, like, why hasn’t someone done something about this yet? I just watched this video for 30 whole minutes. Why hasn’t the world reacted yet? Now, that’s mostly exaggeration, but I digress. As a social video, I think it works well. My only criticism is that it’s kind of long. Viral videos tend to be short and to the point. I know that this subject is complex and sensitive, though, so I understand that that’s probably not a realistic expectation. Besides that, I definitely think that it’s a great social video. People will become passionate about this and tell their friends, circulate it around the web, post about it in their blogs, tweet about it, etc. And, hopefully after all of that, the mainstream media will finally pay attention.

A 30 minutes short video really shocked me. So I forwarded it immediately even on social networks of my own country to expand it to the maximum. And then in order to make it more clearly, I made a research on Google and Baidu to hear all kinds of voices. Undoubtedly, I have to admit that every topic has both positive and negative attitudes, one of which is supportive and the other is to say what the hell.  Some people even said that they saw a political conspiracy, which means a designed and indirect campaign serving for 2012 president election. However, in my opinion, the speed of network transmission and the strength from new media impact the whole world. That power made every common people listen, watch, concern and take action to help children who are suffering. That’s the most successful point. They understand how to use social media to make a person “visible and popular”, how to make celebrity be the part of influencer who could lead public to action, and how to let people have a strong belief and emotion to think about it sincerely. Just as the video said, “the people of the world see each other and can protect each other, it’s turning the system upside down and changes everything.”  

This video has an extreme impact whether you believe in how they are going about it or not. I found myself unable to stop watching.  I tuned out everything the moment Gavin immediately said the story was “sad.” I found it amazing a child so young could realize the harm being done, but millions of people are going about unaware of this mindless killing. It’s shameful.

I think this video takes social media and uses it for the better. Its bringing people together to take on something larger than we ever thought possible. It may have taken eight years to come to light, but this is an excellent example of how social media should be used, to benefit the world. I won’t forget this video or what I learned about Kony 2012. I intend to keep a look out for posters after the activists cover the night April 20^th. I am in complete awe with this video, and believe everyone using social media should spread the word.  As a social video, this is effective and calls people to action. 

I watched the KONY videos on Tuesday when they first seemed to be spreading. I was so impacted by the severity of the injustice I saw… and appalled that not much seemed to be happening to stop it… and appalled at myself that I wasn’t aware of what was going on outside of the safety of my own country! Because of this and the simple call to action that Invisible Children created in their videos (simply share and spread the word, maybe make a pledge) it exploded – I definitely think it is a social video! I even read on Twitter that it was the most viral video in internet history with over 100 million views in less than a week.

I think it was even more of a social video too because of all the debate and ruckus it caused after it started spreading. I continued to read opposing views saying how the KONY campaign is actually detrimental to the children and area. But regardless, it got the world aware and made the injustice known. They may or may not present the best solution to the problem, but with more people aware, hopefully something can be done. SOCIAL media in action, for sure.