This poorly-made clip of a motivational speaker named Judson Laipply doing a series of goofy dance moves has been viewed approximately 40 million times (there are a number of re-posts -- the main version clocks in at 34,214,787 views as of Oct. 18). Think about that for a second.

Hefferman has done some thinking, and has come with an answer that not only explains the success of "Evolution", but perhaps the astonishing success of YouTube as well:

"'The Evolution of Dance' has drawn more than 34 million views, nearly double the number of the runner-up, because it’s . . . not in English. That’s all. No talking. No dialogue, no voice-over, no monologue. No language but lyrics.That’s it’s secret: it’s a silent movie. With a soundtrack...In conclusion, blogs are not the form that makes the web universal. Neither are news sites, or databases, or Wikipedia, or anything else that’s restricted by language. What will make the web universal, what will turn us into one magical networked planet, what will blow our minds with how much can be said in icons and images and film — and, above all, why Google didn’t overpay for YouTube — is video."