The #BostonShake: Reviving an Internet Meme
Internet memes are fun, crazy, out of this world and sometimes just unexplainable. In terms of their popularity, it is usually gained and lost in a blink of an eye, i.e. the proverbial 15 minutes of fame.
The Harlem Shake is one such meme that some say jumped the shark, a phrase commonly used to signify when something has lost its popularity.
Well, we at Schneider Associates wanted to test a theory: what if you took a dying Internet meme like the Harlem Shake and injected it with social media hype and let word-of-mouth take over?
The answer?
To get people in Boston to take part in the video, we went to Twitter, asking online influencers such as@BostonTweet and @UniversalHub to promote a flash-mob style Harlem Shake. We used the hashtag #BostonShake, driving consumers to a Facebook events page.
The rest was history.
Not only did we have over 50 people participate, but there were just as many onlookers, including media representatives from WBUR, WHDH-TV (NBC Affiliate), WBZ-TV (CBS Affiliate) and Boston.com.
Guess the Harlem Shake hasn’t jumped the shark yet.
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