“Why Media Spreads”

Table of Contents - Spreadable Media

Introduction: Why Media Spreads (p. 1)

1. Where Web 2.0 Went Wrong (p. 47)
2. Reappraising the Residual (p. 85)
3. The Value of Media Engagement (p. 113)
4. What Constitutes Meaningful Participation? (p. 153)
5. Designing for Spreadability (p. 195)
6. Courting Supporters for Independent Media (p. 229)

Sub-sections of the Introduction

1. Sticky Content, Spreadable Practices (4)
2. What Susan Boyle can Teach about Spreadability (9)
3. We've Found a Cure for Viral Media! (16)
4. "Comcast Must Die" (23)
5. Participatory Culture Reconsidered (27)
6. Papyrus and Marble (37)
7. What's Next (44)

Sticky, Viral, Spreadable

As the book's title suggests, the authors want to propose a new way of thinking about the circulation of media through human networks (including Internet-based Social Media, but also older face-to-face social networks).

Social Media is of course a very new phenomenon, and we are all still literally "coming to terms" with it: trying to find the language that most precisely defines and explains what happens there.

This first section introduces the book's central argument, that the terms "viral" and "sticky" point us in the wrong direction. Instead,"spreadable" focuses our attention on what is most new, and most important, about Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

Entertainment: Susan Boyle and Fan Culture

What’s Wrong with the term “Viral” Media? 1

Consider the way a real-life virus works: If someone sneezes on you, you may catch their cold. The virus that is infecting their body may spread to yours, and you may then spread it to other people through your sneezes. But the key point here is that none of you meant to spread your germs. The virus spread without your knowledge or consent.

By and large, media doesn't spread like this. People very rarely share media (e.g. post a picture on Instagram, or send a YouTube link to a friend) without consciously choosing to do so.

What’s Wrong with the term “Viral” Media? 2

In a handful of cases, viral is an apt description. The classic case is Hotmail (which became Outlook after Microsoft bought it).

Founded in 1996, Hotmail automatically included a footer on every email sent, with a link that read

Get your free e-mail at Hotmail.

People sent their "real" messages, not paying attention to this additional message that hitched a ride on their content. This is a rare example of media spreading like a virus.

What’s Wrong with the term “Viral” Media? 3

Traditional media companies like to frame the whole Internet as a field of "viral media," because this framework allows them to maintain the illusion of complete control. In this framework, the companies have agency, while their audiences are simply the passive consumers or unknowing transmitters of the company's products.

Our textbook's authors stress, instead, that in many cases it is members of the audience—not the companies—that have the agency. It is they who choose to circulate media, for their own ends.

“Agency” is a key term in cultural and media studies, and understanding what our authors mean by it is crucial to understanding their argument.

As used in cultural studies (including this class), agency refers to the ability to make choices and take action that make a real difference in the world.

Thomas Anderson in The Matrix = No Agency

Fighting Segregation in Montgomery, Alabama = Agency

Many earlier activists had protested segregation before the Montgomery bus boycott, but their efforts failed. Fortunately, the movement led by Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to seize agency on this issue, demonstrating that courage and tireless effort can, sometimes, make a real difference.

Spreadable vs. Sticky (5-7)

• Migration of Individuals vs. Flow of Ideas
• Unified vs. Diversified Experiences
• Prestructured Interactivity vs. Open-Ended Participation
• Attracting and Holding Attention vs. Motivating and Facilitating Sharing
• Scarce and Finite Channels vs. Myriad Temporary (and Localized) Networks
• Sales Force Marketing to Individuals vs. Grassroots Intermediaries Advocating and Evangelizing
• Separate and Distinct Roles vs. Collaboration Across Roles

Spreadable vs. Sticky (5-7)

Trekkies Documentary Clips from Roger Nygard on Vimeo.

“Comcast Must Die” (23)

The Susan Boyle phenomenon demonstrates two things:

1. Media now can spread with a scope and speed unprecedented in history.
2. Companies unprepared for this speadabilty will lose huge opportunities to open new markets and greatly increase profits.

The "Comcast Must Die" example offers another cautionary tale for media companies. It demonstrates that Social Media also gives ordinary people the tools to amplify and organize their resistance to corporate decision-making. Once again, we see Social Media offering a new kind of agency.

Participatory Culture, Reconsidered

In 2008, fans of the TV show Mad Men created Twitter accounts in the name of major characters from the show.

Their ongoing performances as these characters generated large followings. (In 2017 Twitter's "Don Draper" still had about 30,000 followers.)

This of course violates the intellectual property rights of AMC, the network that owns the show. As the authors note, AMC's back-and-forth efforts to control the fans' activities demonstrates that "Fans' desires and corporate interests sometimes operate in parallel, but they never fully coincide" (35).

Papyrus and Marble

Although record labels like Universal Music Group worked hard to give digital music files the properties of marble, Apple long argued that treating digital music more like papyrus would generate more money for everyone.

In 2009 the labels finally agreed to allow Apple to sell music without Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions on files. Before this, songs bought through the iTunes store would play only on "authorized" devices.

What's Next (a summary of the book's chapters)

Chapters 1 and 2

"First we consider the economic and social logics shaping this spreadable media landscape" (45).

Chapters 3 and 4

"Second, we consider ways the media industries have begun to reconceptualize their audiences as active participants whose labor helps determine the value of branded entertainment" (45).

Chapter 5

"Third, in chapter 5, we explore why some types of media content spread more widely and more quickly than others" (45).

Chapters 6 and 7

"Finally, our book explores how spreadable practices may support a more diverse array of media options than the old broadcast paradigm...." (46).