If it doesn’t Spread, it’s Dead

Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green have been developing a framework around spreadability that maps closely to much of what I’ve been thinking about here.

Their core argument: the currency of the social web is not virality – a top-down, passive phenomenon where things ‘go viral’ – but spreadability – an active, participatory process where people choose to move content through their networks.

The distinction matters because it changes how you think about creating content.

Virality thinking asks: how do I make something that spreads automatically? Spreadability thinking asks: why would someone want to share this? What does sharing it say about them? What does it give the person they share it with?

Spreadable content is not just interesting. It’s useful to share. It gives the sharer social currency. It serves a function in the networks it moves through.

This is why the Rage Against The Machine Christmas campaign worked. It wasn’t just a good song. It was a story that people wanted to be part of, and sharing it was a way of being part of it.

If it doesn’t spread, it’s dead. But more importantly: if people don’t have a reason to spread it, it won’t.