The number of followers increased by 4 million in 7 days. Who created “Wa Ya Wa”?

"Dig and dig in the little garden, plant little seeds, and grow little flowers." Recently, a nursery rhyme called "Little Garden" has swept the Internet. Several kindergarten teachers who became famous with this song have gained millions of followers on their Douyin accounts in just a few days. The reasons behind these seemingly confusing phenomena need to be explored in more depth, and the author of this article will explain them one by one.

Recently, many people have either been brainwashed by "Dig Ya Dig" or are on the way to being brainwashed.

"Dig and dig in the little garden, plant little seeds, and grow little flowers."

In the past two days, a nursery rhyme called "Little Garden" has swept the Internet. The simple melody and straightforward lyrics have triggered a large number of imitations by netizens. For a time, "digging and digging" related content began to spread from the short video field to WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other platforms.

Several kindergarten teachers who became famous thanks to the song gained millions of followers on their Douyin accounts in just a few days. It is reported that one of the teachers has already started two rounds of live broadcasts, and the gifts he received in one live broadcast are equivalent to RMB 2 million. Many MCN agencies have begun to rush to sign him.

Under the industry consensus that traffic has peaked and live streaming is "difficult to do", a short video of a children's song can gain 4 million followers in 7 days and earn "2 million" from a live broadcast, which can be said to be a phenomenal event.

But soon, after becoming an overnight sensation, things began to turn around, with more and more doubts raised about the video disseminator, such as "plastic surgery", "money-making", "plagiarism", and "no teaching certificate".

Although the parties involved have repeatedly refuted the rumor, saying that "not many houses were dug out", the "amateur" quickly became popular on the Internet and quickly turned a profit with a video of less than two minutes, and naturally could not escape the attention of the outside world. Behind the seemingly puzzling phenomenon of popularity, we also need to explore in depth: Who created the "Wa Ya Wa" that went viral on the Internet? Who is the biggest beneficiary of "Wa Ya Wa"? Where will "Wa Ya Wa" end up?

01 The number of followers increased by 4 million in 7 days. How popular is “Digging, Digging, Digging”?

What is "Dig, dig"? It's a children's song that couldn't be simpler. And it is this song that has set off a nationwide "digging" craze on major social platforms since the May Day holiday.

"In what kind of garden are you digging and digging? What kind of seeds are you planting, and what kind of flowers are blooming?" There is no complicated plot or noisy environment. In the video, there is only a teacher sitting in front of the blackboard, facing the children, singing a nursery rhyme that is less than two minutes long.

On April 28, a Douyin user with the account name "Music Teacher Hua Kai Fu Gui" posted a video teaching children to sing. The song used was "Little Garden".

It is understood that the blogger is a music teacher in a kindergarten in Wuhan. His surname is Huang and he is called "Teacher Huang" by netizens. His sweet looks and brainwashing nursery rhymes made the video widely forwarded by netizens after it was released, and the audio was widely quoted, quickly sweeping the entire Internet.

According to the data from the new Douyin app, the video has been played 200 million times and received over 5.69 million likes in the week since its release. The account of "Mr. Huang" has gained 4.6941 million new followers in 7 days . It should be noted that the average number of likes for the videos previously released by "Mr. Huang" was only about 100,000, but now it has increased 50 times.

Image source: Douyin account of music teacher Hua Kai Fu Gui

Long before "Teacher Huang" became popular, a kindergarten teacher with the account name "Miss Maocong (Teacher Taozi)" had also posted similar video content. Although her number of followers was not as high as the former, she also attracted more than 1 million followers in a short period of time, and the number of video likes exceeded 9.499 million.

Afterwards, "Wa Ya Wa" began to set off an "imitation trend" among netizens. Not only were it limited to anchors, internet celebrities, celebrity actors, and ordinary netizens who followed suit to film the "Wa Ya Wa" gesture dance, making Douyin "full of digging sounds", but even official media joined in, extending the kindergarten's "Wa Ya Wa" to the adult world and turning it into a "carnival song" for the entire network.

Image source: CCTV News Weibo account

As a result, the following scene appeared on the Internet: workers sang "I work in a small company, climbing up and down, earning a very small salary, not enough to spend"; firefighters said "Take out the small fire extinguisher, for the promotion grip"; anti-fraud police shouted "Swipe the phone, swipe and swipe, and give all the money earned to the scammers"... The "Wa Ya Wa" that has been imitated, adapted and created has spread from kindergarten to all fields.

As of now, the topic #种花园函舞# on Douyin has been played over 800 million times, and the music has been used by 1.603 million people.

As the popularity of the term climbed, from May 4 to May 7, the content related to "Wa Ya Wa" ranked at the top of the popularity rankings on Weibo's hot search list, Douyin's hot search list, Xiaohongshu's hot search list, and Bilibili's comprehensive hot search list . On May 5 alone, four related terms were listed on Weibo's hot search list. At the same time, Baidu Index data showed that after May 1, the search volume for related content such as "Wa Ya Wa", "Teacher Huang", "Beautiful kindergarten teacher becomes popular", and "What is the Wa Ya Wa nursery rhyme" continued to soar.

Topics related to "Digging" on Weibo

The commercial aspect is also active. Tianyancha trademark registration information shows that the "Wa Ya Wa" related trademark has been registered, and other media reported that many MCN agencies have taken a fancy to "Mr. Huang" and some agencies are willing to sign a contract.

In addition, data from Xindou shows that after becoming popular on April 28, "Teacher Huang" has held multiple live broadcasts, with an average of more than 6 million viewers per show. The cumulative number of viewers for a live broadcast on May 2 exceeded 16 million . Compared with before he became popular, the number of viewers for "Teacher Huang's" live broadcasts was only 200,000 to 300,000.

Netizens who watched "Ms. Huang's" live broadcast said that in her most recent live broadcast, the gifts filled the entire screen, and one fan gave her 50 carnivals. There are also reports that she earned more than 1 million yuan from a live broadcast.

In response to this, relevant personnel stated that the information was untrue when responding to the media.

But the popularity of "Wa Ya Wa" is "obvious to all". With the participation of various forces, "Wa Ya Wa" has become a powerful traffic flow at the moment, and the seemingly childish children's song has been spread all over the Internet world.

02 “Kindergarten teachers planting flowers” ​​swept the entire Internet, is it just a coincidence?

"It's inexplicably popular" is how many people feel when they see the "Dig Ya Dig" video everywhere on the Internet.

We have to admit that the popularity of "Wa Ya Wa" was accidental during the May Day holiday when everyone was stuck in traffic and queued up. But after it became popular by chance, the continued popularity could not be separated from the promotion of external factors.

The reason why "Wa Ya Wa" can sweep the entire Internet is inseparable from the three most critical aspects: people, content and platform.

First of all, there are human factors. Many people have noticed that there are many people who have posted the "Wa Ya Wa" video, and the first poster is still undecided, but "Teacher Huang", who is not the original poster, has become the protagonist that has attracted much attention.

Whether it is the speed of gaining followers that far exceeds that of others, or the rumored "millions of dollars a day" in rewards after starting the live broadcast, "Teacher Huang" is undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of "Wa Ya Wa".

The reason why she was able to "stand out" is that her appearance is a major factor that cannot be ignored. From her videos, we can see that compared with other video publishers, "Teacher Huang" has delicate makeup and a sweet look. In the comment section of her videos, there are many comments such as "so sweet and beautiful", "so gentle and cute", and "I really want to be taught by her" .

In addition, the new Douyin data shows that in the fan portrait of "Teacher Huang", there is a certain difference in the ratio of men to women. The male audience accounts for 59%, which exceeds the female audience. In comparison, the ratio of male and female fans of the "Teacher Taozi" account is more balanced, each accounting for about 50%.

Three teachers who posted "Dig, Dig" videos on Douyin

It is worth noting that, unlike other pure amateurs, "Mr. Huang" has been operating his account for a long time. The videos posted on his Douyin account show that there have been 58 works since May 2021.

At the same time, FeiGua data shows that "Teacher Huang" has conducted 66 live broadcasts in the past six months, with an average live broadcast duration of 1-3 hours.

In a recent live broadcast, netizens discovered that "Teacher Huang" was quite skilled in live broadcast words and interactive actions.

Secondly, at the content level, children's songs have bright melodies and are simple and easy to understand, which is an important factor in accelerating their dissemination.

"It's very relaxing and comfortable to listen to. It feels like returning to my childhood." A blogger who posted videos imitating "Wa Ya Wa" explained to Kaiboli Finance that the reason he followed the trend was not only to take advantage of the popularity, but also because he liked this style of content.

He said that work pressure is already very high, and he hopes to have a "brainless" experience when browsing his phone , like "You Love Me, I Love You, Mixue Ice City is Sweet", the lyrics are simple and the rhythm is strong. It is confusing at first listen, but you will be addicted after listening to it twice.

It is not uncommon for children's songs to become popular on Douyin. Previously, many children's songs such as "Oh my god, why did the magic fail?", "Plant a seed in your heart, da la da la", and "Oh GG Bond, be a hero in a fairy tale" were imitated. They are catchy and easy to understand. After entering Douyin, they have become the BGM for adults' carnivals. Groups of "adults" have followed one after another, and through secondary creation and adaptation, they have taken advantage of the natural contradiction between "children" and "adults" to continuously enhance the fun of the video content.

Finally, it was the platform’s boost and the continuous traffic support from Douyin that was the key to “Wa Ya Wa” being pushed out of the circle.

In the data-driven online world, whoever is popular has traffic. When "Teacher Huang" became popular, a large number of follow-up videos received traffic support, which once again pushed up the popularity of "Wa Ya Wa". Then more people continued to follow up and imitate, forming a "Wa Ya Wa"-style carnival.

In addition, after "Wah Wa Wa" was pushed from Douyin to other platforms, part of the content also shifted from focusing on entertainment attributes to "news attributes", and was labeled with "A house was dug out", "A beautiful kindergarten teacher became popular", "A kindergarten teacher was cyberbullied", etc. Media, institutions and the various groups mentioned above participated in it, making "Wah Wa Wa" a hot topic among the whole nation.

In today's online world, there is no shortage of content, but what is lacking is the fuse that can ignite the content. "Wa Ya Wa" appeared at the right time, in the right place, and with the right people. It was selected by data, and external forces such as platforms and users ignited it.

03 The wind direction suddenly changes, and after the carnival, there is only a mess?

Traffic is a double-edged sword. As expected, the popular “Wa Ya Wa” has reversed.

On May 6, the topic #Mr. Huang’s song “Wa Ya Wa” may be suspected of copyright infringement# became a hot search on Weibo.

The content shows that a lawyer said that the songs sung by "Teacher Huang" in the live broadcast room have income from netizens' tips, which involves commercial activities, so the song creator's permission is required . Without permission, the original song creator has the right to require "Teacher Huang" to bear civil liabilities such as stopping infringement, eliminating influence, apologizing, and compensating for losses.

After "Wa Ya Wa" became popular on the Internet, news about "Teacher Huang does not have a teaching certificate", "The teacher who sang "Wa Ya Wa" had plastic surgery", and "The original version of "Wa Ya Wa" was cyber-bullied" followed one after another.

On the one hand, netizens have been discussing who was the first to post the "Wa Ya Wa" video. In the comment section of "Teacher Huang's" video, there are more and more questions about "why it's not marked as original" and "plagiarism".

But whether it is "Teacher Taozi" or the previous "Teacher Strawberry Shell", or the current "Teacher Huang" and "Teacher Hao Meng", none of them are the original creators. In the context of being unable to trace the source, the content is homogeneous, and the result that A is popular but B is not , has made many people who insist on copyright and originality dissatisfied.

On the other hand, some people said that the behavior of "Teacher Huang" as a kindergarten teacher going on a live broadcast to "ask" for gifts as rewards was a collapse of his character.

At the same time, questions such as whether he was an internet celebrity before he became famous, whether he had a team to help plan, and whether he would do live streaming to sell goods, continued to ferment in the public opinion field . The traffic rewrote the original appearance of "Wa Ya Wa" and also backfired on the popular "Teacher Huang".

Image source: Cover News official Weibo

More people are still participating. Kaibo Finance noticed that the number of "kindergarten teachers" who started live streaming on Douyin has suddenly increased. On the evening of May 6, when searching for "kindergarten teachers" in the Douyin live streaming column, more than 10 teachers were singing "Wa Ya Wa" at the same time, and all of them had their own display windows.

One of the kindergarten teachers who was live streaming, although not the core teacher who became popular this time, has also gained a lot of popularity because of her release of videos related to "Dig, Dig". In the live streaming room, she stated without any hesitation that she would make money by live streaming and selling goods in the future.

“Everyone can be famous for 15 minutes.” It’s easy for an amateur to become popular, but it’s difficult to maintain popularity.

In an era where stars are created in a minute, there are many cases such as "Anti-Fraud Old Chen", the little prince of Qatar, and the "Duck Head" guy from Zibo , but none of them have maintained their popularity well . Not every "amateur" who becomes famous overnight is like Ding Zhen, who can continue to receive traffic.

Perhaps, the "digging and digging" will soon cool down, but for Internet celebrities, how to find the traffic code for hot products? For platforms, how to create more "Taozi teachers"? For the parties involved, how to deal with the traffic that became popular overnight? Perhaps we can get some insights from this incident.

Author: Ji Xiaoling Editor: Jin Yufan

Source: WeChat public account "Kaiboli Finance"

The article is authorized by @开菠萝财经 to be published on Operation Party. Any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CCO protocol.