A viral

Viral phenomenon

Viral phenomena are objects or patterns able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them....

 video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media

Social media

The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...

 and email

Email

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

. Viral videos often contain humorous content and include televised comedy sketches, such as The Lonely Island

The Lonely Island

The Lonely Island is an American comedy troupe composed of Akiva "Kiv" Schaffer, Jorma "Jorm" Taccone, and David Andrew "Andy" Samberg, best known for their comedic music. Originally from Berkeley, California, the group is currently based in New York City. The group broke out due to their...

's Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday

"Lazy Sunday" is a song and short video by American comedy troupe The Lonely Island, released on December 17, 2005, broadcast on Saturday Night Live as the second Digital Short...

 and Dick in a Box

Dick in a Box

"Dick in a Box" is a song by American comedy troupe The Lonely Island featuring singer Justin Timberlake. The song and music video debuted on Saturday Night Live as an SNL Digital Short on December 16, 2006...

, amateur video clips like Star Wars Kid

Star Wars Kid

"Star Wars Kid" is an Internet meme involving a video of a high school student from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, wielding a golf ball retriever in imitation of Darth Maul's lightsaber moves from the Star Wars films....

 the Numa Numa

Numa Numa

Numa Numa is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos, most notably Numa Numa Song by Gary Brolsma, made for the song "Dragostea din tei" as performed by O-Zone. Brolsma's video, released in December 2004 on the website Newgrounds.com, was the first Numa Numa–themed video to gain widespread...

 videos, The Evolution of Dance

Judson Laipply

Judson Laipply is an American motivational speaker and dancer from Bucyrus, Ohio. He is best known for his performance in the Evolution of Dance viral video clip. He has worked as a public speaker since 2000.-The Evolution of Dance:...

, Chocolate Rain

Chocolate Rain

"Chocolate Rain" is a song and music video performed by American Internet personality Tay Zonday. After being posted on YouTube on April 22, 2007, the song quickly became popular. , the video has over 74,000,000 views. The music video portrays a bespectacled Zonday in a recording studio wearing a...

 on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

; and web-only productions such as I Got a Crush... on Obama

I Got a Crush... on Obama

"I Got a Crush... on Obama" is an internet viral video, first posted on YouTube in June 2007 featuring a young woman seductively singing of her love for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama...

. Some eyewitness events have also been caught on video and have "gone viral" such as the Battle at Kruger

Battle at Kruger

Battle at Kruger is an eight-minute amateur wildlife video that depicts an unfolding confrontation between a herd of Cape buffalo, a small pride of lions, and one or two crocodiles. The video was shot in September 2004 at the Transport Dam watering hole in Kruger National Park, South Africa,...

.

With the proliferation of camera phones, many videos are being shot by amateurs on these devices.