Viral videos of the week: Nidge birthday wishes, Lil Bub and twerking fire-starter

8 Sep 2013

We take a look at some of the most-viewed and most-shared videos on the web. This week features an Irish lad who decided to send birthday greetings home to his mum, Nidge-style; the internet cats are taking over with feature-length documentaries starring Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat; and a girl recording a twerking video for her boyfriend learned a painful lesson.

About 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, 500 years of video watched on Facebook every day, and more than 700 YouTube videos shared on Twitter each minute, ensuring there is always video trending on the web.

With so much video available for viewing, we take a look at some of the viral videos that have caught our eye this week.

Twerking off

Singer/actress Miley Cyrus’ twerking antics at the MTV Video Music Awards shocked lots of people. But some people were actually inspired, with disastrous consequences. In this video, a girl attempts to make a twerking video for her boyfriend only for it to end in a fiery mess.

 

Nidge-style birthday greeting

This one goes out to all you stars of Love/Hate. An Irish lad in Canada decided to send birthday greetings back to his mum Nidge-style. Seriously compelling viewing … an Oscar-winning performance if ever there was one. Bleedin’ deadly.

 

Lil Bub and Friends

The internet’s obsession with cat videos has morphed into a documentary on Vice about how cats that are the runts of the litter can rise to internet stardom. Starring Lil Bub, a cat with an extra toe, no teeth and its tongue perpetually hanging out, to Grumpy Cat, who really at this stage needs no introduction.

 

Captain Hook

If Carlsberg made CEOs they would do their own stunts in promotional videos. In this case it is Volvo Trucks, whose CEO clambered onto the side of a truck being suspended hundreds of feet in the air to demonstrate the strength and torque of a new hook for trucks. “I learned that if you want to make a YouTube hit you need to have a hook at the start of the film.” He ain’t wrong.

 

Star Drunk

What happens when a bunch of friends decide to get really drunk, write an entire script and film it while drunk? The result is Star Drunk, a film by drunk people. It’s so bad, it’s good. Promise.

Kevin Spacey speech

Actor Kevin Spacey’s reasoned speech about the future of TV and why he believes the Netflix model is the right one has sparked a furious debate. His premise for broadcasters and Hollywood: let people decide what they want to watch.

 

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com