Omonatheydidnt mentioned on Kotaku: How Youtube screwed with "Gangnam Style"

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

"Gangnam Style" has been nothing short of an internet phenomenon. But a new YouTube tweak might help bring that phenomenon to a swift end, regulating PSY's "Horse Dance" to something that's so September 2012.

As Korean pop culture site Omona They Didn't points out, YouTube has changed how it ranks videos. Starting this week,YouTube no longer ranks videos by views. Instead, it ranks them by engagement. Meaning? Meaning more importance is placed on how long people watch a video, with greater weight given to videos that are watched all the way through and make people stay on YouTube and watch other videos. How does that impact "Gangnam Style"? As of writing, the video has been completely knocked the YouTube video out of the Most Viewed Videos section.

The video first entered the top 15 on July 31. By August 1, it was number one, where it remained until October 9. On October 16, it completely vanished from the most viewed section. As a commenter on My Game News Flash points out, here's how the other Most Viewed songs were seemingly impacted by this ranking change:

PSY "Gangnam Style" - 1 →M.I.A.

One Direction "Live While We're Young" - 2 →1

Carly Rae Jepsen "Call Me Maybe" 3 →2

David Guetta "She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) ft. Sia" -4 →6

Taylor Swift "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" - 5 →3

One Direction "What Makes You Beautiful" - 6 →7

Maroon 5 "One More Night" - 7 →6

Christina Aguilera "Your Body" - 8 →20

Jennifer Lopez "Goin' In ft. Flo Rida" - 9 →9

Justin Bieber "As Long As You Love Me ft. Big Sean" - 10 →8

Omona They Didn't thinks this means that people have only been watching the video for a few seconds, before closing it—that, or there are folks (or bots) refreshing over and over again.

Japanese site RBB Today is reporting how this sudden disappearance is being viewed online as "strange", noting that net users are saying things like the song's popularity was "manufactured" or "phony" and this just shows how "fake" the phenomenon was. On many Japanese blogs, there are accusations that the song only got views because of bots, calling it "F5 Style".

The song was never really popular in Japan, so there might have been some jealously online when the tune seemed to go supernova in the West, perhaps due to tensions between the two countries.

The tune did catch on in the West, and it definitely became a thing—just look at how well it's sold outside of South Korea. Or ask anyone who's been in a club the last few months. PSY created a hit tune and an iconic dance, and nobody can take that away from him.

The YouTube ranking change makes it seem like PSY (or his management) gamed the system—whereas, maybe there were just a lot of people watching the video over and over again or simply only watching part of it? That shouldn't necessarily dilute the tune's cultural impact, which has been significant.

The question now, however, isn't whether or not "Gangnam Style" was big, but how big it actually was.

Update: Good news PSY fans! "Gangnam Style" is now back at number one on the YouTube Most Viewed charts—and number three.


Source: Kotaku

Is it ok NOW, mods?

Only posting it for Omona's mention on one of the internet's most highly regarded geek sites.

Comments

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

idk what else to say other than omona you're awesome and ty Brian Ashcraft for recognizing our charms <3

[woohyun.livejournal.com]

LOL Japan

and yay we're famous! is Kotaku even a relevant site?

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

One of the biggest geek sites on the internet as it's a sister site to Gawker, Jezebel, Lifehacker etc.

[noonabites.livejournal.com]

It's number 8. There.

And ew, Kotaku. Still better than the nonsense IGN is.

Kotaku is to Seoulbeats as IGN is to AKP (minus Audrey)

[asth77.livejournal.com]

lol

[illustratedd.livejournal.com]

get stuffed, ign.

it had to be said.

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

sometimes i forget that PEOPLE ACTUALLY COME HERE AND READ THE SITE and then we get quoted. iirc this is the second time i've seen a blog quote us. the first time was hella long ago by one of those expat bloggers, and it was a pretty serious post too. actually... (https://www.google.com/search?q=thegrandnarrative+omona+they+didnt&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a)

lmao if you google omonatheydidn't a lot of people seem to link back to us. that's pretty wild imo. i keep thinking we're in some kind of bubble.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Famous communities are often under the eye of famous celebs. Oprah is said to read posts on ONTD from time to time.

[odd-fish-stick.livejournal.com]

First of all, I'd like to thank Greg, for all he has done in my life.
I'd also like to thank my mom, dad and the Gawker Network for conceding to me such a huge honor. Last but not least, I'd like to thank the omona community for inspiring my post. This victory is for you.

Ps. My new rider can be obtained from my agent and has been forwarded to the mods, I will not make any more quotable posts filled with hard hitting journalism unless there are 3 dozen roses and 2 cats in my dressing room at all times, amongst other things. I'm great because you're great, omana. Let's work together 4 ever.

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

god bless you. also i creeped into your profile, i love your mark ronson icons. it would be so tight if he collaborated with any kpop stars.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

You deserve it bb. Congrats! :D

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

lifetime inspiration award bb

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Side eyeing the title a lil' cause I know people are going to jump to conclusion
But Yeah Omona

However I don't think "Gangnam style" popularity can be affected by the new policy cause oppa is everywhere already. The article (and comments from our glorious omona) are just stating the obvious: Lots of people only watched the elevator scene, who's surprised?

So now instead of watching part of the MV, crazy stan are gonna watch the whole thing on repeat so Oppa/Noona gets 1rst and teh world will just carry on.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Title isn't ok? :(

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

relegating, not regulating

fucking gawker

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

and how does no one realise that this is just google changing the metric so it reflects which videos let them sell the most ads/most effective ads? That's their entire business model, everything they do is geared towards it in one way or another

[spread.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I forget that OMONA isn't some secret hideout or solitude that I can escape to for a few hours.
But, it's in fact a very public and known site (I mean Oprah is a OMONA fangirl FFS).
/not-so special snowflake

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Oprah knows omona?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda amused how that OP's speculation was spread. Kinda shows how little people fact check or even think about the truthfulness of claims 'cause you could tell the video couldn't be dropped for reasons he/she claimed if you know anything about how views are counted in youtube.

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

lol what if someone had decided to report about that 1st lee michelle rumor post we had the other day? omw omona your opinions are affecting the internet universe!

[zeldas.livejournal.com]

Kotaku has been popping up with random Kara (in the name of music themed games) and PSY (in the name of... God knows what, idk) this past week. Keeps on making it harder to read badly reported pieces on video games.

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

Update: Good news PSY fans! "Gangnam Style" is now back at number one on the YouTube Most Viewed charts—and number three.

... it is back at both #1 and #3? So... is there still a glitch?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Nope, #3 is Hyuna version.

[hileahrious.livejournal.com]

go omntd! and this is all getting out of hand psy is a genius and frankly it's true whether or not ~youtube~ says so

[empressmaruja.livejournal.com]

Methinks it's because casual viewers do not watch it all the way through. Note that the MV has an extension of the parking lot dance-off and people may have just stopped watching the MV by the time the song itself (not the video) is finished.

[toshi830.livejournal.com]

While it's cool omona is getting recognition and quoted by other blogs, gross, it's kotaku, and even more gross, it's Brian Ashcraft.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Lmao Ikr, Kotaku, being mentioned by them is the least flattering thing.

[foolish.livejournal.com]

Considering I've heard that song on the radio (in the US), seen people on my school campus doing the dance, etc. I wouldn't say it's fabricated, at least not in the US.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

It's definitely not fabricated.

I have never in my life thought I would see any Korean pop star dance along Brittney Spears or appear on mainstream American television.

Even my local radio station plays gangnam style a few times a day, and we are pretty darn rural out here.

This is totally surreal.

Maybe during my lifetime, it will become completely normal to be Korean outside of Korea, and no one will ask me that "Japanese or Chinese " limerick. Ugh!

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

Won't this just encourage people to chop up their videos into a bunch of segments so that people "continue" to watch videos on youtube to up the rank artificially?

[ullielvidina.livejournal.com]

it's time to throw confetti :)
We're famous bro!