Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (Postmillennial Pop) Paperback – April 3, 2018

It's a little bizarre that a popular (at least according to Amazon sales figures) book about passing along media or commentary has gone over a month without having a review posted. I think it's because this is an ingenious, yet jam-packed book that looks at online participation and the sharing of information from a unique perspective that just plain forces you to think. This is not a quick read.While there are plenty of social media books out that look at the "new phenomenon" of sharing as an organizational strategy or as platforms of tools as compelling new ways to share, the authors of "Spreadable Media" look more at the material itself that is or isn't being shared. What characteristics of materials make people want to spread them? What's in it for the sharer? When people read, hear or watch something that makes them want to circulate it, what triggers that decision? The authors point out there's nothing really new about this motivation. The passing down of keepsakes, family heirlooms, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, family trees, etc. has gone on for generations. First the photocopier and now social media platforms have just made it easier and almost instantaneous.The main focus of the book is on the broadcast, mass-media business model of "stickiness" of content vs. the parallel concept of "spreadability." It's becoming increasingly apparent that if media doesn't spread today, it's dead--like a film/song/book/work of art/best practice no one sees/hears/reads/studies/tries. So while there's a loss of control in allowing your audience to manipulate and pass along one's creative effort, there's also an expanded opportunity that it will uncover new audiences and be more widely acclaimed than if you protect it and threaten users for "stealing it." Corporations, institutions, universities and other power structures are starting to recognize that.Perhaps one reason "Spreadable Media" may be slow to generate reviews is in the sheer breadth of their analysis. My personal reason for reading "Spreadable Media" was to create company communities where members will pass along content to co-workers and customers to expand product knowledge and benefits and ultimately to increase sales. Some of the most insightful information I've read about this topic is indeed covered in this book. The authors portray "lurkers" (the bane of online communities where the vast majority of members who only consume others' information without contributing any of their own) as only learning and biding their time until they too understand the rules and start to participate. In Chapter 5 they even describe what makes materials sharable. This will help me to completely rethink the development of content rather than just to focus on why community members are either engaged or not.The density issue comes into play, however, as they go through a variety of entertainment, mass-media examples about how and why we are all moving toward spreadability. These examples are interesting to consider but can be difficult to digest. There are probably few readers who have all these perspectives who can follow these various threads. So if the authors have done anything "wrong" in the book it is just the amount of commentary on how much our culture is changing to address ways that we learn across all aspects of our lifestyles. In summary then, "Spreadable Media" is a great book but prepare yourself for some pretty deep but original thinking as Jenkins, Ford and Green argue for the increasingly networked world we're all living in.

This is an excellent volume that should be required reading for anyone studying the media. While I would have liked to see more discussion of the public sphere and the implications of the media environment for the evolution of political processes and systems, the authors are more interested in culture which is understandable given their collective past work. And while I may disagree with minor points throughout the book, it is an excellent read that motivates the reader to truly think about the implications of the changing media environment

Fun and innovative book. I really liked the subject matter and it was an easy read. I would recommend it to anyone studying marketing.

Jenkins is a great name in the transmedia world. He re-defined the term and showed the power of the concept, the novelty of the move (e.g. non linearity, importance of the second screen, etc.). Its book Convergence Culture has been an important material for our review (at present just a first draft about transmedia, see [...].The new book, some five years later, extends (would I say "spread") the reflection over more recent feats and views. I found deep correspondence with another recent book, this one about music "Digital magma", by Jean-Yves Leloup (in French, sorry for my english-only friends). It will be taken into account in my next review of the transmedia concept.

What I like about Jenkis work is how he is open to evolve in his own ideas, and I think these book show just that. Jenkins revisits many of the thing that had happened with the evolving of the web and makes a good evaluation of those thinks. It is a good read, and let's face it, many academic writers could learn from Jenkins and start writing interesting books instead of boaring, quote filled, books

This book examines the concept of viral media and argues for a different paradigm based on participatory culture and fandom, where people choose to spread ideas and their interests to other people. It's a fascinating book that presents an alternative perspective on marketing, but also on pop culture studies, bringing those studies to the 21st century by focusing on the role of social media within pop culture. If you are interested in pop culture, you'll find this book useful for understanding how pop culture spreads and if you are interested in marketing this book will provide a different perspective to the prevailing wisdom of the time.

Jenkins reinforces his thesis of participative and convergence culture, adding now the notion of spreadable media. People take advantage of digital devices to spread their artifacts particularly in social platforms, opening chances to build learning communities, fans activities, globalized movements (grassroots) etc. He tries to maintain highly critical view, avoiding to discover alternative paths where there aren't. Especially he cultivates profoundly critical position in face of capitalism's market forces, since these are determined to monetize all social platforms in the name of private profit. Well documented in empirical cases and media releases, this book reveals great research talent, critical balance, very good theorizing insight, and future vision.

Excellent compilation of case studies and thinking about how messages spread. The authors smartly mix approaches from economics, marketing, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and mass communication to help us understand why messages spread. The discussion of fan issues and participatory culture are especially illuminating.It does to tend to focus on video examples and entertainment fan communities, however. As a journalist and mass-comm researcher, I would have appreciated more community-oriented examples (as Clay Shirky uses in "Here Comes Everybody"), but overall, it's a thought-provoking book about today's media environment. And I loved the e-book "extra" essays from other authors.

ottimo prodotto. spedizione veloce.

Muy apropiado para diversos tipos de lectores, desde los más especializados hasta los neófitos. Gran opción si te interesa el comunity manager o el marketing digital.

This book is constantly filing in my understanding of current media and bridges so many gaps. AMAZING READ and i'm only 10% in!

By its own admission, this book is a bit of a mess. Actually, it seeks to be three books in one, and whilst one occasionally stumbles across a gem, or a practice previously unknown, by and large it ducks questions rather than answers them. The complex dynamics of our attraction to and seduction by technology are treated quite superficially, and it seems like more of an opportunity to justify a disparate group of academics who, whilst working together, have agreed on very little in a respectful way. The result is a bit of a damp squib, and I would have preferred to see the issues examined with greater seriousness.