The Meme Machine
Are you pissed off about the AIG bonuses? If you're like most people, you are. Depending on where you get your news, you probably learned about the bonuses on either Sunday night or Monday morning.
Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com wanted to see how this meme had spread through the blogosphere and media, and he's posted a really interesting analysis (with a cool graph).
Nate Silver's "How the AIG Meme Spread"
The AIG story became a tsunami in 72 hours, even though the Sunday articles contained very little "news." Most of the pieces were known and had been reported before. But suddenly, the story took hold and raced into our consciousness.
That's the power of a viral meme.
This blog post is all "inside baseball" as a process story, but the real story isn't AIG.
It's a story about how the public has much more control over the national debate and headlines these days--through the blogosphere. Mainstream media didn't "launch" this story, the blogosphere launched it.
Whether you're a fan of investigative journalism, pundit commentary, or guy-on-a-soapbox rants, it's important to learn how the news you consume got to you. Be an informed consumer.
Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com wanted to see how this meme had spread through the blogosphere and media, and he's posted a really interesting analysis (with a cool graph).
Nate Silver's "How the AIG Meme Spread"
The AIG story became a tsunami in 72 hours, even though the Sunday articles contained very little "news." Most of the pieces were known and had been reported before. But suddenly, the story took hold and raced into our consciousness.
That's the power of a viral meme.
This blog post is all "inside baseball" as a process story, but the real story isn't AIG.
It's a story about how the public has much more control over the national debate and headlines these days--through the blogosphere. Mainstream media didn't "launch" this story, the blogosphere launched it.
Whether you're a fan of investigative journalism, pundit commentary, or guy-on-a-soapbox rants, it's important to learn how the news you consume got to you. Be an informed consumer.