Conclusion

Introduction:

The conclusion chapter sums up everything covered throughout the whole book. Added commentary by Corey Doctorow, a writer for a science fiction publication, enhances the arguments and points made in each chapter and in the book as a whole. Doctorow compares the spreadability of media to the dispersal of dandelion seeds, as mentioned in Chapter 6. The audience acts as the wind while the content is the dandelion. He points out that the wind (audience) will take over and spread the content regardless, so it is not always necessary for the producers of the content to spread it themselves since the spreadability is inevitable. However, people decide what it is that they want to spread and the content creators do not have the ability to stop it from being spread despite their best attempts. Companies have issues giving up their products and creations to the general public and putting the success or failure into solely the audiences hands. The circulation and creation of adjacent content is unpredictable and it is impossible to tell what direction the content will take once in the hands of the audience. The responsibility on the audience is what is changing the culture of these environments. We are currently in a time of transition where the old ways are no longer relevant and the new ways have not yet been completely discovered yet.

The Flow of Ideas:

This section explains how Spreadable Media was written to explain the circulation of media content through analyzing the social motives of the users who are responsible for the rapid circulation. This section describes how companies need to be careful when relying on fans for peer-to-peer sharing, as if the content begins to appear too commercialized the “virality” of the content could end up having a negative impact on the company’s brand. The sections also addresses the problems that may be faced when content crosses certain social or cultural boundaries, as the content may be one dimensional in terms of the audience it was intended for or appeals to. 

Dispersed Material:

This section of the conclusion is about how content creators have deep stakes in how their content speaks. The section explains that brands use spreadable media to help increase meaningful relationships with potential customers. Broadcasts and producers use spreadable media to engage the audience to make them more interested in and in turn gain more success. This creates multiple access points that are easy for the audience to share.

Diversified Experiences:

With the spreadability paradigm, it is said that mass-produced content is localized for specific user groups within the audience by the audience. Fans act as the translators of content they are interested in and think that others with their same interests might be interested in as well. Audience members as "multipliers", "appraisers", "lead users", "retro curators", and "pop cosmopolitans". Producers are required to take in and make use of the fan supported content and use it to their own advantage for trying to shape the content's image. 

Open-ended Participation:

This section looks at the evolution of participatory culture with the arrival of Web 2.0. It describes how participatory culture is not new, but is becoming more accessible due to advancements in technology that allow users to spread media to a wide variety of social groups. This increase in participation can lead to a frustrated audience, which could ultimately lead to users being less inclined to engage with content producers. 

Motivating and Facilitating Sharing:

This section is explaining how technology has improved and made it easier and cheaper to circulate content. We see this a lot with Twitter. However, brands or companies have no control over what the public will do with it once the information is sent out. This is causing trouble because of lack of control for the producers after putting out content. Media and producers are starting to put in work to gain at least some benefit from this circulation. 

Temporary and Localized Communication:

Nothing is predictable with content in the current media environment. The traditionally controlled models with a top-down distribution need to alter their approach to a more hybrid way of circulating content. This hybrid approach is a mix of both distribution approaches. It is partially bottom-up and partially top-down. Things are more easy-going nowadays and are not being planned out; whatever happens, happens regardless of the producers attempts to change it. It is hard to tell what content will become a global phenomenon and which will just vanish into the mix of everything else. Creators are beginning to take more of a part in communicating with their fan audience. By not attempting to take control of the fan's created material, the producers are allowing their content to grow and spread to its full extent.

Grassroots Intermediaries who Advocate and Evangelize:

This section focused on the idea that branded content is much more effective if it arrives to a user via a peer. This allows for natural engagement and therefore is more effective marketing. The author is sure to point out that although it can be more effective coming from a peer, a user can become very offended if he or she feels it is commercialized content that he or she is sharing with them. It states that it is crucial for content creators to spread content that their peers or audience will be able to relate to at a personal level. 

Collaboration Among Roles:

This section is explaining how there are blurring relations between producers, marketers and audience. In the section it uses an example of the film Twilight. It explains how when filming for Twilight fans would stake out locations that the film was being produced and basically become paparazzi. With spreadability being so present in our lives these fans would post pictures of the production and get spread to thousands of eyes. The audience then became critics of the film and production before it was even started. These leaked images upset producers because their product is being displayed and they feel they should have creative control instead of being criticized on how they work. 

Five Quotes:

1. “As people pursue their own agendas in sharing and discussing media content, they are helping to spread the seeds – transforming commodities into gifts, turning texts into resources, and asserting their own expending communication capacities.”

2. “Audience members are using the media texts at their disposal to forge connection with each other, to mediate social relations and make meaning of the world around them.”

3. “Spreadability is the result of shifts in the nature of technologies which make it easier to produce, upload, download, appropriate, remix, reticulate, and embed content.”

4. “content creators are often making their communications more frequent, more timely, and more responsive to particular audiences”

5. “Creators are listening closely to their audiences, meeting them when and where the audience is having a conversation to address questions related to the audiences agenda rather then just what the company wants to say."

Online Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk