????IN 2012, a little-known Korean artist riding an imaginary horse clocked up more than 1 billion views on YouTube with his song “Gangnam Style.” ????Now a song called “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” is hoping to be a similarly popular viral hit. ????It was released as a joke in September by two Norwegian brothers collectively known as Ylvis with help from Stargate, the production team that helped create hit songs for Rihanna and Katy Perry. ????The brothers, both well-known comedians in Norway, said they wanted to “misuse” the talents of an A-list production team for comic effect. ????“The idea was that we could go on air and say, ‘Guys we had an opportunity of our life, making a film with these producers,’ but all we could come up with was this song about what sound the fox makes,” Vegard Ylvisaker told the Sunday Times. ????Lyrics include the line “ducks say quack, and fish go blub and the seal goes ow wow ow but there’s one sound that no one knows what does the fox say?” ????The song has had more than 140 million hits so far — more than “Gangnam Style” had at this stage of its release. According to a new survey clips like “The Fox” follow a winning formula when it comes to going “viral.” ????Internet clips go “viral” when audiences reach into the millions — or even billions — thanks to so many people forwarding the link. ????According to the study, the likelihood of someone choosing to forward a video depends on the emotion provoked by that clip. ????Researchers describe what they call an “arousal hierarchy” where videos eliciting positive emotion, including joy and humor, are most likely to be forwarded. ????Videos eliciting feelings of alertness and attentiveness are the next most likely to be forwarded. ????Clips that evoke negative arousal are near the bottom of the hierarchy, but still more likely to be forwarded than dull, non-emotional videos. ????The research, led by Rosanna E. Guadagno at America’s National Science Foundation, was conducted by recruiting 256 university students to watch one of 10 hits on YouTube, then asking them how they felt and whether they planned to forward it to others. ????The study found that there were four emotion categories described by the students: Cute (for example a child biting his older brother in fun); funny (for example a cat stalking a video camera); disgusting (for example a woman eating a praying mantis); and anger-inducing (for example police tasering a student). ????The study found that anger-inducing and disgusting videos were also likely to be forwarded because they triggered interest and arousal. ????Participants found anger-inducing videos particularly interesting when they came from a student at a different university and were more likely to forward them. ????(SD-Agencies) | 