3372973861_f614f355b2_m1I’ve been following Mike Aruaz’s blog as he has discussed the fascinating topic of “spreadable media.” Mike got a lot of his initial thinking from the brilliant piece: “If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead”, by Henry Jenkins and his team at MIT’s Convergence Culture Consortium. Mike took what was said, “curated it”, added his own ideas and insights, and made a 100 word presentation that I can’t wait to share.

Why can’t I wait to share it?
1.) Because it feels new. I feel like I am the first to share these insights with my audience.
2.) Because it feels relevant. I know that the readers of my blog have at least a passing interest in Social Media. We have some shared values, and thus the information is valuable to them.
3.) Because I am hoping that by sharing this information I am both giving and receiving: giving Mike’s brilliance, giving my own insights and in return receiving attention, credibility, admiration for finding it, or perhaps just the chance not to be forgotten.

Viral vs. spreadable

The talk about viral vs. spreadable reminds me of creative meetings I’ve been in where people have shouted (SHOUTED!) at me: “BUT HOW CAN WE MAKE IT GO VIRAL?” The panic in their voices was because they themselves hadn’t a clue how to make it happen.

What Henry Jenkins’ suggests is that the whole term “go viral” has it’s flaws, because it suggest that you “let something loose”, and it then spreads of it’s own accord, without rhyme or reason or control on the part of the spreadee.

There are those of us who think otherwise.

You can’t control everything about how something spreads. And you can’t anticipate the ways that it will. But there are many, things you can do to ensure it happens in the first place.

I will be blogging about these ways in the coming days. But first,

An excerpt and a story.

In the Henry Jenkins article, he describes the phenomena of the “Crank Dat” song by Soulja Boy:

“Soulja Boy, originally an obscure amateur performer in Atlanta, produced a music video for his first song “Crank Dat”, which he uploaded to video sharing sites such as YouTube. Soulja Boy then encouraged his fans to appropriate, remix, and reperform the song, spreading it through social networks, YouTube, and the blogosphere, in the hopes of gaining greater visibility for himself and his music…People added their own steps, lyrics, themes, and images to the videos they made. As the song circulated, Soulja Boy’s reputation grew — he scored a record contract, and emerged as a top recording artist. — in part as a consequence of his understanding of the mechanisms by which cultural content circulates within a participatory culture.”

And my personal story? A few years ago, I was sitting in my car, with my daughter Allie, when Crank Dat came on the radio. And I said to Allie “I don’t much like this song.” And in a very sad voice, Allie said “You don’t like Solja boy, mom?” Pause. “But there’s a dance that goes along with it. Look.” And she taught me the dance, in a parking lot at dusk.

And you know what? Because that *shared experience* with my daughter was so wonderful my perspective of the song changed in an instant.

Mike Arauz suggests “Design your brand to be taken apart and put back together in unimagined ways by your consumers.”

I have said “social media is about the sharing of ideas that move people to action.”

Or perhaps, finding a way for them to dance.