Blog #10 — Spreadable Media
Blog #10 — Spreadable Media 4/7/24
https://www.tiktok.com/@accountwashackedwith50m/video/7335149483182886176?lang=en
Crazy enough, the most viral video I’ve seen over the past month was a 12-second-long TikTok. Creator @Pray4Gabs filmed chocolate-covered strawberries on a bed with Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love” playing in the background. After further research through comments on similar videos, the original video was deleted after reaching 115 million views and 50.1 million likes. The link above is a reupload of the same video but, as I was searching, there were tons of videos just like it either of reuploads of the same video or people trying with their own strawberries, just to get a taste of that fame.
Jenkins talks about spreadability in his book, “Spreadable Media” which makes sense after hearing the title. He refers to “Spreadability as the increasingly pervasive forms of media circulation and potential for audiences to share content for their own purposes.” (Jenkins 3) Sticky content is also referenced in this book as “material that people want to spread.” (Jenkins 4) But what made this particular content become so widespread and shared? It comes from 2 different parties. The first is the consumer. People on TikTok are attracted to the short, sometimes not making sense, funny videos they can like and share with their friends. The first couple of people seeing it thought it was funny and gave it a like without thinking. The video then goes into the hands of TikTok which notices the video getting views and blasts it onto algorithms for more and more people to see. With this method, TikTok can decide what is shared and goes viral and what doesn’t after seeing how a small group of people respond to it.
The participatory culture also plays a factor in its spreadability. “As material spreads, it gets remade: either literally, through various forms of sampling and remixing, or figuratively, via its insertion into ongoing conversations and across various platforms.” (Jenkins 27) This plays a big role because as I was searching for the video under Caldwell’s song, I found 5.4 million posts. This was either people copying the trend or putting their own spin on it. I saw videos of different fruits, POVs, and influencers all under this sound all referencing the infamous strawberry video. TikTok is such an interesting place because it doesn’t follow the normal guidelines of company engagement. Sure, companies post on their own page and make content but a lot of the time it’s a random video by someone with 200 followers that’s blowing up with the new viral video. Spreadability has changed. TikTok has changed the audience that interacts with the media. We’ve turned from a “slow-culture” to a “fast-culture” (Jenkins 96) where everyone is always searching for the next stimulant on their phones. I would be surprised if in the next month a new video surfaces and becomes the next “viral hit.”
