Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture

In this earnest study of our media landscape, academics and consultants Jenkins (Convergence Culture), Ford (The Survival of the Soap Opera), and Green (YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture) examine the diverse ways that news and entertainment travel. The Internet has cause a shift "from a culture shaped by the logics of broadcasting toward one fostering greater grassroots participation." Not long ago, reporters and network programmers operated in an environment where "stickiness" was key. The system privileged "putting content in one place and making audiences come to it." These days, however, "spreadability" matters more. The authors ponder how far and wide viral phenomena can circulate, and show how synergistic television, video, music, and live concert performances can be%E2%80%94not to mention how lucrative. Content today, the authors suggest, can travel not only from the top down but also from the inside out. It is a remarkably different terrain than what we have been used to, one they effectively and stridently analyze. (Feb.)