I’m really sorry. It’s not you. It’s totally on me. I thought this was going to be about butter.

Spreadable Media

Dave Thackeray
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

During my early days of reviewing books for the world wide web, I was a little overzealous. Like the kid in the sweet shop I wanted to learn about everything, and used my book reviewer status mischievously in pursuit of this goal.

Authors are doubtless delighted that I have since matured greatly and apply my own filter in order to extract from my virtual library codenamed NetGalley the works for which I can add the greatest reviewing value.

Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture lured me in during my candyshop days. I misread the title as social media. I glossed over the description. And I dived in.

I will spare you the details of what lurked beyond the cover. I’ll instead furnish your thought skies with a couple of paragraphs from the official description. In the hope you will translate them for me and I can rediscover the text through the lens of an academic that you so patently require to be before finding peace here,

Following up on the hugely influential Convergence Culture, this book challenges some of the prevailing metaphors and frameworks used to describe contemporary media, from biological metaphors like “memes” and “viral” to the concept of “Web 2.0” and the popular notion of “influencers.” Spreadable Media examines the nature of audience engagement, the environment of participation, the way appraisal creates value, and the transnational flows at the heart of these phenomena. It delineates the elements that make content more spreadable and highlights emerging media business models built for a world of participatory circulation. The book also explores the internal tensions companies face as they adapt to the new communication reality and argues for the need to shift from “hearing” to “listening” in corporate culture.

You know me. I like baby language. At our first meeting I tell clients we’re through unless they can explain to my six year-old self the value in what they do. And I mean it. I’ve walked out three times.

Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture is available now on Amazon and doesn’t come with an intellectual disclaimer.

Book reviews

Mostly business, sometimes fiction, almost always both

Dave Thackeray

Written by

Founder of Word And Mouth | Host of #Thacknology

Book reviews

Mostly business, sometimes fiction, almost always both

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade