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Friday, March 29, 2013

The Alleged Spontaneity of Viral and Tremor

My former colleague Kevin Ashton writes about the 'Harlem Shake', which I admit I just noticed a few weeks ago.  My connectedness is more about the technical than the social.  He suggests that the swift movement of the meme was more about what corporations wanted to spread than the spontaneous eruptions of the  'hive mind'.  He tracks the emergence of the idea in early February, and how it was promoted by the press.  With lots of video examples.   Chicken and egg here.  It is scary, though that commercial interests may be able to build the wave to their purposes.   Or inevitable.  Reminds me of Tremor, which I had just heard has been abandoned by its corporate sponsors.  Or has it?  More about Tremor written here.

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