The YouTube video of the homeless man with the golden voice has to be one of the biggest social media hits in local media history. Earlier this week, a Columbus Dispatch videographer saw a homeless man holding a sign that promised a “God-given gift of voice,” so he let the man belt out a few lines on camera.
The newspaper posted the clip on its website, and it appeared a short time later on YouTube, copied “by an anonymous user,” the Dispatch said. Within hours, the YouTube clip exploded, driven by a flood of referrals from Reddit, Twitter and Facebook. And today — just three days later — a clean-cut Ted Williams appeared on the TODAY Show while entertaining voice-over offers from media companies, sports teams and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. The YouTube clip surpassed 12 million views.
Until it was pulled. Today, according to a message on YouTube, the clip has been removed “due to a copyright claim by The Dispatch.” Of course, there are copies floating around out there, and if you visit Dispatch.com, you’ll find the original clip along with a rich section of video and text coverage of The Man with the Golden Voice. (I’ve been unable to find any official Dispatch version of the clip on YouTube.)
What’s fascinating about this story is the role YouTube played in making this story viral in the first place. Nearly all of the social media links pointed to the YouTube clip, not to Dispatch.com, and YouTube’s own social community helped amplify the volume. While the content was compelling, the social distribution made it explode. Without it, we wonder if Ted Williams would still be roaming the roadside.
It must be maddening for the Dispatch, but welcome to the new reality of social distribution. For stories that take on a life of their own, the benefit of massive distribution — even if you don’t control it — outweighs the value of walling it off on your own site. Pulling the clip is like a slap in the face to the community that helped make the story explode.
But that’s just me talking. What do you think? (Story via @mathewi)
Update: The Dispatch has posted the clip back on YouTube — on its own profile
