My work at IMA is in video production. I work with an ever-changing team of talented people to identify topics, interview artists and otherwise generate content we can float out onto the web and hope someone nibbles at it. Occassionally a hundred someones, even on occassion a thousand or more partake in our work. But we have yet to discover the elusive million-views video formula seen in YouTube classics like Dramatic Look (my 2007 favorite) and the notorious Rick Roll. Even the unexpected hit, Slug Sex, is kicking our proverbial ass. (If you haven’t seen this video, you absolutely should.)

So what is it? What is that wonderful, viral quality that compells you to e-mail your friends? Perhaps a good laugh, maybe playful irreverance, or just a creative peppering of well-timed obesenities, often set to music, top the list of viral trends. Certainly, we try. For the Roman Art from the Louvre webisode project, we pulled out the big guns and created an episode eerily similar to VH1’s beloved, I Love the 80’s series filled with our own brand of wit and swearing. But it wasn’t quite enough to get us over the hump. So as we move forward, I think it is safe to assume we will keep producing content that we feel has a lot of artistic integrity, contributes to the mission of the museum, all the while brainstorming about ways to strike YouTube gold. So, I challenge you, our constiuents, all 5 people reading this blog, to offer your suggestions for how we can grow that number to 10, then 10 million. I’m waiting….