Comments on: War of the Concepts: Virus vs Spread http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/war-of-the-concepts-virus-vs-spread/ news & perspectives on fan communication and online social life Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:41:09 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Brad Berens http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/war-of-the-concepts-virus-vs-spread/comment-page-1/#comment-1279 Brad Berens Sat, 17 May 2008 05:28:24 +0000 http://www.onlinefandom.com/?p=460#comment-1279 Hi Nancy, That's a terrific post. I too am a big fan of Henry's notion of spreadable media. The notion that they are in "control" is a delusion that plagues marketers of all stripes... not just the people who work on word of mouth or so-called "viral" marketing. Just look at the common title of "brand manager," as if it's something you really can manage. The internet has put a great deal of pressure on how the newly fungible shape of a communication (your web page can be viewed on a big monitor, on a small one, on a BlackBerry or iPhone) can put cognitive English on the experience of the communication, whether it be text or video. Of course, this is a dilemma that hearkens all the way back to Phedrus (Jonathan Culler's discussion of it in On Deconstruction is probably the clearest), but I think that the pressure of how appliances transform a communication's appearance added on top of the interpretive problems created by distance alone is still something that most thinkers on the topic haven't grappled with. Back on viral, you might enjoy this article by my friend Sean X Cummings: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/12779.asp Please keep up the good work! ____________________________________________ Brad Berens, Ph.D. Chief Content Officer & Editor at Large, NA ad:tech & iMedia read my blog at www.mediavorous.com Hi Nancy,
That’s a terrific post. I too am a big fan of Henry’s notion of spreadable media. The notion that they are in “control” is a delusion that plagues marketers of all stripes… not just the people who work on word of mouth or so-called “viral” marketing. Just look at the common title of “brand manager,” as if it’s something you really can manage.

The internet has put a great deal of pressure on how the newly fungible shape of a communication (your web page can be viewed on a big monitor, on a small one, on a BlackBerry or iPhone) can put cognitive English on the experience of the communication, whether it be text or video. Of course, this is a dilemma that hearkens all the way back to Phedrus (Jonathan Culler’s discussion of it in On Deconstruction is probably the clearest), but I think that the pressure of how appliances transform a communication’s appearance added on top of the interpretive problems created by distance alone is still something that most thinkers on the topic haven’t grappled with.

Back on viral, you might enjoy this article by my friend Sean X Cummings:
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/12779.asp

Please keep up the good work!

____________________________________________
Brad Berens, Ph.D.
Chief Content Officer & Editor at Large, NA
ad:tech & iMedia

read my blog at http://www.mediavorous.com

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