YouTube is the new thermometer for pop culture

Ever wonder if a trend has expired? Well, now you can find out on YouTube. Just look at the number of views as a pop culture expiration date. Here's how it works.

Remember the whole Diet Coke and Mentos thing? For months, everyone was talking about it, getting exposure from it, and receiving millions of views. But that was then.

Carlsberg beer and YouTube just verified that now, the whole thing is officially played out. With a few thousand views, that video – posted about 10 months too late – proves that pop culture has moved on. And just like the once famous Taco Bell Chihuahua, fountains of soda are now a figment of the pop cultural past.