Nieman Lab has a great summary / review of Bill Wasik’s new book, “And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture“. Bill Wasik is the creator of flash mobs, and he discusses the causes / problems of viral memes and the rising use of popularity as a measure of importance in the media. Sounds like an interesting and relevant read. I’m very curious about some of the problems mentioned at the end of this post:

While there’s much to agree with in Wasik’s arguments, he offers us few specifics on how to “neuter” these viral stories. He mentions Jake Silverstein’s idea of an Internet Ramadan, during which participants go offline for a month, or Intel’s flirtation with offline “quiet time” one morning a week. Rather than offer specifics, Wasik focuses on individual choices, the familiar idea of unplugging ourselves from the constant flow of information — or, more elegantly, that “we must become judicious controllers of our own contexts, making careful and self-reflective choices about what we read, watch, consume.”

Viral media culture adds another layer of complexity to the already enormous problem of data overload. How do you filter your information? How do you edit your attention? Historically, newspapers and other news media acted (with variable quality) as a filter, letting the average person know what information and events were important enough to warrant their attention. But the news ecosystem has changed dramatically, and now includes vast numbers of people and organizations using the media to promote their own stories and points of view. What sorts of new filters or constraints will we have to devise to help us sort through the noise and find the signals?