According to Visible Measures, which tracks videos from Youtube.com, Myspace.com and other video-sharing sites, all Boyle-oriented videos have generated a total of 85.2 million views.
Nearly 20 million of those views came overnight.
But it’s not just in online video where Boyle, the unassuming woman from a tiny Scottish town, has dominated.
Over the weekend, her Facebook fan page was flooded with comments.
The page listed 150,000 members at 1 pm on April 10. By the night of April 12, there were more than a million.
Indeed, the sleepless Internet is her round-the-clock stage, and the 47-year-old who has said she’s never heard of Youtube is the Web’s hottest entertainer.
To media observers, the speed and scope of Boyle’s online ubiquity is a testament to the fact that the marriage between old media and new media is broadening the reach of all media–from one channel to another, from person to person.
Her performance first aired on British TV then made its way to Youtube and Facebook.
“What we’re really seeing with Susan Boyle is the power of‘spreadability’,”according to Henry Jenkins, co-director of MIT’s comparative media studies program.
“Consumers in their own online communities are making conscious choices to spread Susan Boyle around online,”Jenkins said.
At any given moment, on any particular site, someone is passing along Boyle online.
Tanya Gold, the Guardian, Why are we so shocked when“ugly”women can do things, other than sitting at home weeping and wishing they were somebody else?
Susan will probably win Britain’s Got Talent. ... But Susan Boyle will be the freakish exception that makes the rule.
By raising this Susan up, we will forgive ourselves for grinding every other Susan into the dust.
Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com : When Boyle sings, our identification transfers instantly to her. She’s us.