Social Media: More than just connecting with friends... #KONY2012

Last week filmmaker Jason Russell’s Kony 2012 film exploded on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, receiving almost 80 million views in less than a week. The film was produced to draw attention to the crimes of African rebel leader, Joseph Kony.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the YouTube sensation is now the fastest growing viral phenomenon in web history.

A character in the film, Luis Moren Ocampo, confirms Russell’s theory stating, “We are living in a new world, Facebook world, in which 750 million people share ideas not thinking in borders… it’s a global community.”

At nearly 30 minutes, a large question remains as to just how it captured the attention of the global public.

Journalism and Mass Communication Assistant Professor Rick Stevens noted the uniqueness of Russell’s film, “this video is very interesting in a lot of ways…the conventional wisdom is that you have to keep videos short and funny to go viral…researchers have seen that it’s really about the human connection.”

To view the KONY 2012 video click here.