KONY 2012: How Social Media Fueled the Most Viral Video of All Time. Documentarians: KONY 2012 Achieved Its Goal. Even at SXSW in Austin, Texas, KONY 2012 is the topic of conversation. It was the elephant in the room during a panel on social documentary filmmaking and social media. Fortunately, the panelists addressed the elephant — more than once. KONY 2012 is the massively viral YouTube video, directed and narrated by director Jason Russell who founded Invisible Children, that shines the spotlight on Joseph Kony, a Ugandan warlord who has been abducting children and turning them into soldiers and sex slaves. In the space of a few days, the video has become an international sensation, garnering almost 70 million views on YouTube and even triggering a response from the Ugandan government, which now plans to capture Kony.
It has also drawn some criticism for potentially oversimplifying the issues, possibly encouraging “slacktivism” and turning Kony into a celebrity. The panel’s assembled documentarians, though, chose to address the effectiveness of KONY 2012 as social documentary. KONY 2012 group not laughing at actor Jason Biggs' nude freak-out parody. Jason Biggs Gael Fashingbauer Cooper TODAY March 23, 2012 at 10:28 AM ET Getty Images, Reuters KONY 2012 filmmaker Jason Russell's epic freak-out inspired Jason Biggs to reenact the meltdown for laughs -- but not everyone is finding Biggs' parody funny.
According to TMZ, a spokesperson for Invisible Children -- the advocacy group behind Russell's mega-viral "Stop Kony" campaign -- responded with a jab at the actor's celebrity status: "Who's Jason Biggs? Was he famous once or something? " The "American Reunion" actor will reprise his role in the latest installment of the comedy franchise, slated for release April 6. VIDEO: New Video Surfaces of Kony 2012 Filmmaker Jason Russell's Nude Rant When security guards arrive at the scene, he puts his pants back on.
Earlier this month, Russell was seen on video (below) having a hysterical naked meltdown in the streets of San Diego; he was arrested for public masturbation and vandalism. Related content: Watch the trailer for 'American Reunion' Ugandans Angry at KONY 2O12. The non-profit organization Invisible Children and its viral video Kony 2012, which has become an international sensation in the past couple of weeks, is continuing to stir controversy. Not only have critics raised questions surrounding Invisible Children and its methodologies, but numerous reports are now verifying that local Ugandans too are in fact angry about the campaign. The non-profit African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET), which calls itself an organization to help rehabilitate victims of war, organized a public screening in the town of Lira in northern Uganda on Tuesday night. Northern Uganda was one of the regions worst affected by Joseph Kony's rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
While the Kony 2012 film has become the most viral video in history, this was the first time that most Ugandans in Uganda — the majority of whom have no access to the internet — saw the film firsthand. Another local Ugandan stated, "We wanted to see our local people who are killed. Android App Lets You Fight Kony With Violence of Your Own. A controversial app debuting Thursday, called Kick Kony’s Ass, allows you to “punch and generally beat down” a picture of the Ugandan warlord, “essentially giving him a taste of his own medicine.” Made by mobile safety app developer Iconosys, the app plays off of the attention currently on Uganda sparked by the “Kony 2012” video on YouTube. Watched more than 137 million times, the most viral YouTube video of all time looks into the conditions in Uganda — focusing on one particular man, Joseph Kony, who has kidnapped children in the country, requiring them to become soldiers for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
"This is a therapeutic way to allow you to get out your frustrations," Wayne Irving, CEO and Founder of Iconosys told Mashable. "I often go and hit the speed bag or the punching bag, and I feel a 100% better afterwards. This is a novel/virtual way to accomplish some of the same therapeutic practices to deal with this fracas. " Does the app send the wrong message? Jason Russell, 'Kony 2012' Creator, Suffered From 'Reactive Psychosis,' Family Claims. KONY 2012: How Social Media Fueled the Most Viral Video of All Time. Can Kony 2012 Change the World? The Answer Depends on Which Generation You Ask - News. Most members of the Millennial generation (those born between 1982 and 2003) believe viral videos can make a measurable difference in the world.
And despite its creator's recent tribulations, the most viral video in Internet history, Kony 2012, is giving them a chance to prove they're right. Within five days of its release, the video—created by the California-based nonprofit Invisible Children about Lord's Resistance Army head and indicted war criminal Joseph Kony—had been seen by 80 million people, a major step toward creating global awareness of Kony’s crimes. The video's tagline stated mission is to "make Joseph Kony famous," but the larger goal is to help capture Kony by the end of this year. Until then, the video’s producers want everyone interested in the cause to join the publicity effort by putting up posters and stickers about Kony on April 20. But not everyone was impressed.
Photo via (cc) Flickr user Micke Kazamowicz. Fundraising metrics behind Kony 2012 revealed. The social media buzz around the Kony 2012 campaign has subsided over the past week. For about a week or so, though it was inescapable. So just how big was it? For some perspective, I recently talked with Scot Chisolm, CEO of StayClassy, the online fundraising platform that works with Invisible Children on its campaigns. The platform launched in 2010 and Invisible Children, the organization that produced the Kony 2012 video, was among its first clients. I asked Chisolm what his key lesson was from the Kony 2012 sensation. He said that while it appeared to many people that the video exploded out of nowhere, the viral success was really the result of years of work, building up a base of supporters.
“It appears like it happened overnight,” Chisolm said. And Chisolm emphasized that past campaigns as well as this one, have offline components as well as online. Then, we discussed the numbers. “As far as orders of magnitude, it’s easily 10x compared to their past campaigns,” Chisolm said.