Common Sens & Hotline Bling

     A common characteristic both examples reflect is their ability to be relatable. In Paine’s pamphlet he spoke about the American Revolution in a way that most could understand. He ignored the common philosophical, elite way of writing and instead wrote to the common people so that everyone could grasp what he was trying to say. This reminds me of a scene in the television show called Master of None where a television producer is talking about how to create a popular show and says that in order for it to be widely accepted it must target the lowest common denominator. Paine’s use of this notion lead to the virality of his pamphlet and also holds true for society today. All of these memes and YouTube videos that have achieved virality are simplistic, that everyone can understand.

     I think one of the largest changes between what it means to go viral in the past and what it means now can be easily related to the transition from mass media to social media. Before social media took dominance in our lives, the spread of information was largely reliant on mass media. Although Paine published Common Sense by an alias name he still had the connections to get his work out to the public. Back then when mass media was our only viable outlet we had to rely on these people who had the tools and knowhow to spread information as it was not readily available to the public as it is now. During Paine’s time, even looking back five to ten years the only famous people were those on mass media such as television shows and movies but now we have progressed to a time where any average Joe can upload a video or photo, share it to the world, and become famous overnight. Now this is not to say that anyone can achieve this but if they have Kevin Allocca's three means to go viral; tastemakers, communities of participation, and an aspect of unexpectedness becoming an internet success is a possibility. Common Sense too had content in it that was of controversial subject matter, therefore it has the same sense of the unexpectedness that content today needs to become viral as many newspapers would not have published his work because of its provocative message.

         Looking at the two articulations involved with media mode of production also helps set apart the past and present’s ability to achieve virality. The first articulation that concentrates on the modes of communication, affect, and accumulation. Standage argues that new media is not as new as we perceive it to be, that in fact when it is stripped down to its basic role in relation to the first articulation I believe he is correct. Regardless if its Common Sense or the plethora of “Hotline Bling” memes they both achieve to create a symbolic meaning through social practices, invoke a certain emotion and spark a connection in people’s lives, and lastly accumulate capital or power. He also is correct that both examples contain all aspects of the second articulation as well but they ways in which they do so shows how they differ. In both forms of media in order for them to go viral they need to be produced, circulated, and then consumed. In Common Sense Paine's work is produced by himself first wherever he wrote his work and then had it transformed by the printing press. Once that was completed he distributed it through newspapers as that was the most effective medium to reach a multiple number of people at that time. Lastly his work was consumed by the people, the support through tastemakers, the large community of people he was targeting, and the pamphlets shocking and appealing information are what allowed it to spread the way it did which eventually lead to him being classified as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Looking at the virality of Drake's "Hotline Bling" memes the social media platforms that are now accessible has allowed for it to be shared through multiple means simultaneously. Medium likes YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram being the main contenders has allowed for much greater distribution than Paine was capable of, sharing these memes to people all around the world in a matter of seconds. With the greater range of production new media provides for media texts leads to greater distribution and therefore a much higher consumption. Social media has allotted the capability to perform all three steps of production, distribution, and consumption involved in the second articulation simultaneously, at the same time. This allows people to go viral at such a fast pace, Paine was not able to do this with Common Sense because he had to perform each step separately therefore at a much slower pace. That and the fact that the power of what goes viral is more controlled by the people or consumers as they now have the means for participation that they never had before leading to a more centralized power versus mass media where the elite were the only ones with the means and decided what was going to be shared and what was important.