Milking is the new Internet craze that is now starting to replace online planking, which involved a person lying on streets or other public places face down with their hands by their sides. Planking became an Internet sensation at the start of 2011.

The milking craze began in Newcastle, England. It does not involve squeezing the udders of cows to produce milk, but students and graduates pouring processed milk over their heads while their friends film the event and later on post it on the Internet.

The originators of the craze recalled that it started as a kitchen talk of doing the act outside Starbucks in Jesmond.

"We did that, uploaded the video to Facebook and got a load of likes. So then we thought, Why not just make a video?" the Daily Mail quoted milker Tom Morris.

Since then, their video became viral and other Brits started to copy the milking craze and posted their own versions. There are now versions of milking students at Edinburgh, Nottingham and Circencester.

Mr Morris eventually posted the 2.45 minutes video on YouTube last week and got over 10,000 views within 48 hours of its upload. As of Monday evening, the hits have reached almost 80,000.

The craze expectedly was criticised by certain groups who considered the practice wasteful and stupid. "And some in non-first-world nations would shake their heads at what they'd consider intentional conspicuous waste. Seriously, hungry people have little appreciation for performance art," Digital Journal quoted a comment on Fark.com.

While their comments are valid, perhaps much of the world outside the milk industry is unaware of practices such as pouring on the ground of millions of fresh milk in some rich nations as the dairy producer's way of protesting government policies on milk prices.

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