Remembering that YouTube has only been around four years is really strange for me. When I’m sitting at a desk it is my escape into the outside world. I can live vicariously as a Russian teeny-bopper through Svetlana Loboda videos, learn about Korean narrative by watching epic fifteen minute romantic videos, or catch up on the latest episodes of German entertainment staple Verboten Liebe. But, what has held my attention most recently is Jerkin’. Regularly I visit the affluent black suburbs of LA. Via the YouTube screen, I am transported to parking lots and basketball courts where the kids are jerkin’.

So what is it? Anything new? The answer has to be no, not really. Intricate dances set to specific types of music is a tried and tested YouTube format. If you have never watched a duojump video, then you really are missing out on some great stuff. However, with all things internet, online dance genres have a relatively short shelf-life. Keeping up with the times is tough, mainly because styles dry up once they become standardized. When was the last time you watched a fresh tecktonic video!?

But Jerkin’ should hold viewers’ attention for a number of reasons. Not only are the dances greatly entertaining, they would be comical were it not for the earnestness with which they are performed. It is their production which truly stands out. Where traditional YouTube dance videos have usually been a single take, badly recorded on a cellphone or cheap camera, Jerkin’ really steps it up. Yes, the film quality is still terrible, but the videos are produced. They are comparable to skateboarding videos -  tightly edited to the tracks, formed from what are clearly large amounts of footage in various locations. Where once a film crew might go out with the intent of making a video, it seems that now the level of production is raised; people are prepared to edit and refine their production from what they captured on the mobile phone. Jerkin’ videos have such a high degree of self awareness of their form and structure that they seem to be consciously impersonating the point at which they have gone beyond YouTube-amateur and become real MTV material. 

Perhaps it is this that makes Jerkin’ one of the hotest things on the internet right now. It is not original in its content or style. But when it seems that the kids can do it so much better, doesn’t it question the purpose of MTV and its peers?