Steve Simonsen’s video of land crabs migrating on St. John has gone viral on the Internet. Two weeks after the video was made, it was discovered by mainstream media and Web sites and became a three day-wonder. Online, it's been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
Simonsen said the Web site most responsible for helping it to go around the Internet was Righthisminute.com. The Vimeo posting, alone, has been viewed 428,000 times, as of Thursday morning. (See the chart)
ABC’s Good Morning America ran the clip, as did Discovery Channel Canada, and local TV in Florida. Simonsen says the BBC’s interested in showing it, too.
Like all Hollywood blockbusters, there may be a sequel, or at least an “Editor’s Cut.”
Comments about the crab invasion video have been critical. “Some people love the music and some hate it,” Simonsen said on his Facebook page. It came from a library of stock music, “and was selected rather quickly. I’m thinking of re-editing (the video) and taking into account all the comments.”
Technical facts: Simonsen used two Canon cameras for the shoot: an EOS 5D Mark II and an XA-10.