Video: Smoked Watermelon Looks Like Meat
New York Insider posted a video about a restaurant that serves the ‘Watermelon Ham’ in New York City called Duck’s Eatery. The video that was hosted by the chef demonstrated how a fresh watermelon was transformed into a roasted-ham-looking fruit, along with a person reviewing the dish. Within a week, the video gained 378k shares, 44m views and 52k comments.
Well, what has actually made this video reposted by a massive number of Facebook users?
First, the idea of the watermelon steak or ham is such a novelty. The attraction starts with the featured video image, a big charred ham-looking watermelon. People would start to think “Wait, what? Sweet watery watermelon as a steak? This sounds ridiculous! The title and the picture themselves appeal to viewers to watch. Spreading a remarkable new idea catches people’s attention. Besides, users feel good for spreading something worthy of attention.
Second, New York Insider page has over 1.2m followers on Facebook. In other words, around 31.5 percent of its followers shared the post. The great number of followers is a good start. These followers act as connectors. They spread to others that are non-followers of the creator account.
As shown in the picture, the number of views is 36.6 times the number of its followers!
Finally, the video gives an impression to users to be feel like an insider. It doesn’t only show how the watermelon looks like, but also demonstrate how to cook the watermelon steak, from soaking, roasting to grilling. By watching this, viewers get the knowledge and are given the chance to try it at home. Another interesting part is the host of the video ordered the steak and described how it tasted like. Viewers may feel exclusive for knowing about this interesting new thing!
It is amazing knowing how a video spreads to so many users on the social media. Novelty, newness, exclusivity and the number followers might be the real reasons for this popularity. But why would people feel so excited about spreading this to their friends? Is that simply to make them feel up-to-date? Has this been possibly caused by the credibility of Insider who created the video?
Marketing through the Looking Glass 
I always have friends sharing Facebook post on their page. Personally, I feel like one of the main reasons people do this is to connect and engage with their friends, especially in the comment section. The credibility of the page and number of followers helps get better reach, but I don’t think it was the main reason people share their post. I think that most people share posts when they feel a sort of connection with the content.
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Hi Candy. I agree that relevance to our own situation motivates us to share a post on Facebook. That way, we also share to our friends about what we feel through posts that may not directly describe us. As you mention, friends will comment on the post and it is a way of keeping in contact with them in an engaging way. Credibility of the video may not always be the key to share it as long as it can be an interesting topic to discuss with friends.
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Hi, the video about “Smoked Watermelon Looks Like Meat” is amazing. Everyone including me likes to watch new and strange things on social media as they have never seen it before. And Insider has always been doing their job the best as they always post up-to-date locations that few people know. I love watching Food Insider too as they have various posts about unique restaurants so I can know about wonderful places around the world.
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Hi Anh, yes I did find the Watermelon video mind-blowing too! They are up to date with what’s around in the country. This is interesting for us to share on the social media, so that our friends know about the amazing new things and initiate to try the new place. Besides, some people also feel good that they are the ones who share an amazing post to their friends.
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The watermelon video is amazing. Thinking about how it went viral, it must be because of its novel idea. I mean watermelon as a steak is not common. I would share with my friends because I want them to feel the excitement too.
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I also think the novelty initiates popularity of the watermelon video. Seeing that you share in order to spread excitement with your friends, it sounds viral videos are used to socialise among online users. I also believe that the way the video is created makes viewers feel exclusive for knowing about something new.
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I like your watermelon example~~~ That’s very mind blown as I’ve never heard of things like this!! I have no wonder why it went viral XD.
And as you said Lora, I think New York Insider’s push did help to build the publicity of Duck’s Eatery. I personally think at the same time, Duck’s Eatery’s innovative creation also help New York Insider too. With posting interesting stuffs, New York Insider also convey a creative impression to their Facebook existent and potential customers.
I believe viral videos sometimes can benefit the number of people that beyond our imagination.
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Such a good point! Yes, the watermelon video is mind-blowing! I agree that a viral video benefits the video creator, the restaurant and even people who spread the video. Credibility of the video creator can lead to viral video and in return, the creator account can gain more credibility.
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