Ryan Rice

Pd. 2
Mrs. Frere
Rhetorical Analysis

In November of 2011, Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, delivered a TED Talk on "Why

Videos Go Viral". In his presentation, he showed the audience several examples of videos that have

become cultural moments and covered the reasons behind the rise of those videos. Allocca claimed

that videos become popular because of "tastemakers, communities of participation and

unexpectedness". Allocca helped support his claim by using various forms of logos, pathos, ethos in his

speech. Allocca's speech on "Why Videos Go Viral" is effective on the audience because of the numerous

graphs he used, the displays of community outreach certain videos had, and his title as YouTube Trends

Manager.

Allocca uses logos through his graphs to show the how many people were watching the videos

that became cultural moments and the rate of their growing popularity. When discussing the first video,

Bear Vasquez's "Double Rainbow", Allocca reveals that the video had been uploaded long before it

became popular and explains that the surge in views was due to tastemakers. The main tastemaker that

led this video popularity was Jimmy Kimmel. After Kimmel shared the video on his late night show, the

video was on it's way to stardom. Allocca refers to graphs again when discussing the second video. The

song, "Friday", had first spiked in viewers due to tastemakers (and the day was a Friday). Allocca's use of

logos helps to support his claim that tastemaker's lead their audiences to watch certain videos.

Allocca uses the numerous parodies through Rebecca Black's song, "Friday" and the popular

video "Nyan Cat", as well as a few jokes, to create a humorous environment for his audience. "Friday"

was a tune that became a one-hit wonder, not because of it's popularity but because of the ways that

the community was able to get involved. The song was easily parodied and quickly amassed over

"10,000 parodies" by the time of the speech. These numbers have continued to increase since this

speech from 2011. Allocca also talks about "Nyan Cat", a looped animation video that has become a
 Ryan Rice
Pd. 2
Mrs. Frere
Rhetorical Analysis

cultural moment to the younger generation. Like "Friday", this video was easily parodied to fit to a

variety of different themes, such as remixes, ragtime, and country-based versions. When someone looks

at the community's response to videos like "Friday" and "Nyan Cat", they will be in awe of .

Finally, Allocca maintains good ethics in his presentation by making use of his title as YouTube

Trends Manager and stating several facts. Hearing all this information from a stranger would make

people doubt the speaker, however, the audience does not doubt Allocca because they see him as an

official source. His title as YouTube Trends Manager helps to create a positive image of himself that the

crowd will listen to. In addition to this, Allocca uses facts to persuade the audience to listen to him. The

graphs used to show the number of viewers support his statements about the videos. Allocca

masterfully uses ethos in his presentation to prove his point to the audience.

Allocca's presentation was successful because of the support he had. The data charts of the

videos showed the video view counts from the time they were posted to a time closer to the

presentation. The community participation created a feeling of unity among a diverse audience.

Allocca's title helps to give weight to his words, making the people listen.