Going Viral (eBook)

Karine Nahon is associate professor at the Information School, University of Washington, where she is also director of the Virality of Information (retroV) research group and former director of the Center for Information & Society. Jeff Hemsley is Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, New York.

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Prolog

Cover Art

1 Introduction: Virality of pets and presidents

2 What Virality is: I know it when I see it

3 What Makes Something Viral I: The control of networks through Gatekeeping

4 What Makes Something Viral II: What is everyone looking at?

5 What Makes Something Viral III: Caught in the Viral Net!

6 Networked changed societies

7 Afterlife

Bibliography

Notes

Going Viral has won the 2014 Best Book Award by ASIS&T (Association of Information Science and Technology), and was named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine (Association of College and Research Libraries).

"This concise and insightful book targets a niche topic in the studies of digital media that is becoming increasingly relevant to the public. It considers many questions and successfully accomplishes what it sets out to do. Students of media, digital worlds, and information will not be disappointed."
--LSE Review of Books

"Virality is what make societies click at the pulse of the Internet. It is at the heart of the new forms of commerce, culture, media, social movements, and politics. This pathbreaking book explains what it is, how it works technologically and socially, and draws out the implications of this process for social change. It is a major contribution to network theory and to the understanding of the network society."
--Manuel Castells, University of Southern California

"Ever wonder why a video, meme, or idea spreads like wildfire online? In 'Virality', Nahon and Hemsley examine the technology, social practices, and cultural conditions that enable media to go viral. This illuminating book gets beyond marketing hype to provide critical insights for understanding the powerful phenomenon of virality. This is a must-read for anyone trying to make sense of how information flows in a networked world."
--Danah Boyd, Microsoft Research

"From Rosa Parks to Gangham style--a fascinating look at a defining phenomena of our age- virality, spreading, winner-take-all success. It is more than a fad-- Going Viral offers a compelling argument that viral processes are here to stay, and they are an essential feature of the online fabric."
--Albert-László Barabási, Northeastern University