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Kony 2012

You might remember it as Kony 2012 documentary, Invisible Children Kony

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2012·The social era·informative

The fastest-spreading video of its time and the case study in what viral advocacy does and does not achieve.

At a glanceThe facts

Remembered as
Kony 2012 documentary
Spread in
2012
Format
Video
Era
The social era
Made by
Invisible Children, Inc., directed by Jason Russell
Record
The first YouTube video to reach one million likes
Origin
Origin not yet established
Available
Playable from the source

Why it matteredWhat changed

A thirty-minute campaign film was the first video on YouTube to collect a million likes, and its promised day of action six weeks later drew far fewer people than had signed up. It became the standard example of the distance between sharing something and doing something.

TimelineIn order

  1. Posted

    Invisible Children releases the film online. Its stated aim is to make the warlord Joseph Kony known well enough to be arrested by the end of the year.1

  2. Record

    Visible Measures counts 112 million views of the film and the excerpts and responses to it one week after release; it had passed 100 million in six days, faster than anything it had measured.2

  3. Later

    The director, Jason Russell, is taken to hospital after a temporary psychotic breakdown.1

  4. Mainstream

    A resolution condemning Kony is introduced in the United States Senate.1

  5. Mainstream

    The African Union announces a brigade of five thousand troops to hunt for him.1

  6. Remixed

    A sequel, Beyond Famous, is released. It reaches 1.7 million views in eleven days.1

  7. Later

    Cover the Night, the campaign’s day of action, takes place. More than fifty thousand had signed up; one gathering in Vancouver has seventeen people.1

What people misrememberSet straight

Commonly remembered asKony was terrorising Uganda when the film came out.

ActuallyHe was believed to be in the Central African Republic with a few hundred followers. Uganda’s government called the film’s account “totally misleading”.1

Commonly remembered asThe video caused the African Union to send troops.

ActuallyA researcher, Patrick Wegner, pointed out that the plan had been reported in 2010.1

LegacyWhat it left behind

Later lifeAfterwards

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Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later

This is the copy ViralWorld can show you. Whether it is the first is not established.

Where it came fromWhat we know

Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.

View this upload on YouTube

No original upload has been established for this record. The index is showing the earliest copy it currently knows about, and says so rather than guessing.

Where
Known on 2 platforms: YouTube, Vimeo.

If you do not use YouTubeSomewhere else

The same thing, held on another platform. Each link says what that copy is; none of them is claimed to be the original, and Share above stays with ViralWorld either way.

More from 2012You were there

ConnectedFollow it further

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Kony 2012
  2. TIME — Kony 2012 Becomes Most Viral Video in History

Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things

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