“On YouTube no one has to green-light your idea,” said YouTube trends manager Kevin Allocca at the TEDYouth conference in November. But only a small percentage of the videos uploaded to the video sharing site get the millions of views that lead to fame and advertising dollars. In this video Allocca defines the three factors that make a video go viral:

“Tastemakers, creative participating communities, complete unexpectedness — these are characteristics of a new kind of media and a new kind of culture where anyone has access and the audience defines the popularity,” Allocca said.

Tastemakers

Paul Vasquez, aka Hungrybear9562, had no intention of becoming a YouTube star when he posted the “Double Rainbow” video in January 2010: he just liked rainbows.