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Some externals that had a huge influence on Flappy Bird are Vine and then a couple of huge play along YouTubers (such as "pewdiepie"). I made the analogy before

Some externals that had a huge influence on Flappy Bird are Vine and then a couple of huge play along YouTubers (such as "pewdiepie"). I made the analogy before that Flappy Bird is the 2 girls 1 cup of games, and while I saved myself from ever seeing that video, it became famous in reaction videos. Exactly the same thing happened with Flappy Bird, first on Vine in early January, and then as the mega-YouTubers picked it up in late January. It was likely pewdiepie who yielded the enormous uptick at the end of January.

waterlesscloud 13y ago
Interesting. So there were a lot of reaction-style vines of people playing Flappy Bird?
- corresation 13y ago
  Absolutely. There are thousands of them. Indeed, the whole "this game is super frustrating" was a meme the author of the game picked up on and leveraged in December. e.g. https://twitter.com/BarlowConnor/statuses/412712696102932480 https://twitter.com/BarlowConnor/statuses/412712696102932480 (Dong is one of the retweeters)
- psyklic 13y ago
  Typically when a product shows up all over Vine like Flappy Bird did, at least some of them were paid for. Any evidence of this?
mcphilip 13y ago
It's worth noting that pewdiepie has 22+ million subscribers. The flappy birds video[1] from January 27th already has 9+ million views. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQz6xhlOt18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQz6xhlOt18
- arn 13y ago
  Ya, but the pew pew video wasn't posted until well after the game hit number 1.
  - corresation 13y ago
    The linked article talks about the enormous upswings at the end of January, and pewdiepie was likely the funnel that caused that. However YouTubers had picked up Flappy Bird much earlier, again for the "so impossible" angle (in the same way that there were tonnes of reaction videos to the game Amnesia, though it was far less accessible so had a lower ceiling). For instance- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQSLT7e9Q8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQSLT7e9Q8 The linked article assumes bots during this period, but more likely it was simply that it started making the organic transit through the YouTubers.

waterlesscloud 13y ago

Interesting. So there were a lot of reaction-style vines of people playing Flappy Bird?

corresation 13y ago
Absolutely. There are thousands of them. Indeed, the whole "this game is super frustrating" was a meme the author of the game picked up on and leveraged in December. e.g. https://twitter.com/BarlowConnor/statuses/412712696102932480 https://twitter.com/BarlowConnor/statuses/412712696102932480 (Dong is one of the retweeters)
psyklic 13y ago
Typically when a product shows up all over Vine like Flappy Bird did, at least some of them were paid for. Any evidence of this?

mcphilip 13y ago

It's worth noting that pewdiepie has 22+ million subscribers. The flappy birds video[1] from January 27th already has 9+ million views. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQz6xhlOt18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQz6xhlOt18

arn 13y ago
Ya, but the pew pew video wasn't posted until well after the game hit number 1.
- corresation 13y ago
  The linked article talks about the enormous upswings at the end of January, and pewdiepie was likely the funnel that caused that. However YouTubers had picked up Flappy Bird much earlier, again for the "so impossible" angle (in the same way that there were tonnes of reaction videos to the game Amnesia, though it was far less accessible so had a lower ceiling). For instance- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQSLT7e9Q8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQSLT7e9Q8 The linked article assumes bots during this period, but more likely it was simply that it started making the organic transit through the YouTubers.