Mar 19, 2012

Coye Cheshire Comments on Viral "Kony 2012" Video Campaign

From The San Francisco Chronicle

Viral video Kony 2012 and viral political message

By Lois Kazakoff

A little known San Diego nonprofit zoomed to international fame earlier this month when its Kony 2012 video became the most viral in history. Political communicators of every stripe were stunned by its meteoric rise in the global media - and salivating over the idea that their candidate, their message, might enjoy a similar ride into voters' hearts and minds...

Coye Cheshire, an information scientist at UC Berkeley, said video campaigns like Kony 2012 excel at getting a point across. "But this is very, very different from getting people involved in a problem."

In the end, viewers feel used and betrayed, and their trust in the message and the messenger is reduced, he said.

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Last updated:

October 4, 2016