And Then There's This

February 23, 2009
Focusing on the phenomenon of viral culture, Wasik, senior editor at Harper's
magazine, reflects on his own Internet experiments, beginning with the creation of “flash mobs,” a pop phenomena of 2003. Wasik asked hundreds of people to gather in public for no apparent reason, and news of these gatherings that mysteriously coalesced and disbanded spread rabidly through blogs and e-mails. The groups were created by Wasik to explore the growing world of “memes,” ideas that spread through culture, “colonizing all as widely and ruthlessly as can.” He examines other Internet sensations—the meteoric rise and fall of pop bands, guerrilla marketing and political blogs—relating how such “nanostories” contribute to growing cynicism in a media-saturated and consumer-savvy public. He draws on the work of Steven Levitt and Malcolm Gladwell to demonstrate that the desire to interpret the analysis of culture has outstripped the desire to understand the culture itself. Wasik's examples are culled from the trivial—e.g., ephemeral indie bands and forgettable ad campaigns—but his deft style and provocative insights keep the book significant.

May 15, 2009
Quirky theories on the rise of viral culture.

Harper's senior editor Wasik is fascinated by how the Internet and handheld wireless devices are changing basic social relationships, particularly the speed with which individuals become famous and forgotten in the media arena. He should know. Wasik originated the evanescent MOB trend in May 2003, inviting 63 friends and acquaintances to join an"inexplicable mob of people in New York City for ten minutes or less." His motivation?"I was bored," he writes,"by which I mean the world at that moment seemed adequate for neither my entertainment nor my sense of self." Boredom aside, he wished to create the sort of intentionally viral"nanostory" he perceived as central to online culture, as confirmed by the roundly mocked Time selection of"You" as 2006 Person of the Year. Wasik's"Mob Project" attracted media and online attention followed by an equal amount of backlash, which the author suggests was inevitable:"After six mobs, even conceiving of new enough crowd permutations started to feel like a challenge." For much of the book, Wasik sets similar challenges for himself, enlisting the help of online scenesters with similar interests, like Huffington Post technology director Jonah Peretti, a"high-status" individual responsible for the website BlackPeopleLoveUs.com and such pranks as ordering custom"sweatshop" sneakers from Nike. Wasik won Peretti's competition for most popular website with a parodic"right wing" New York Times, and he invented"Bill Shiller," a phony MySpace-based identity created to"cultivate proactive relationships with brands." These experiments support his assertion that"the Internet is revolutionary in how it has democratized not just culture-making but culture monitoring," but the effectiveness of the author's argument is mixed. Though Wasik is well-informed and sharply addresses his slippery subject, he also exudes a pretentious, insider-ish vibe.

Witty and of the moment, yet presumably destined for a short shelf life.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2009
The more time we spend online, the more rapidly the texture, tone, and pace of our lives change, and the more difficult it is to assess the ripple effects. When stories go viral, is it merely aform of wildfire gossip, or does it have serious implications for the future of journalism, politics, economics, and the arts? Wasik, senior editor at Harpers, an arts and culture critic, and the mastermind behind the Internet-generated flash mobs of 2003, presents a lively and clarifying overview of the surging world of blogs, YouTube, and social networking with its armies of faux friends. In a cyber-focused variation on Malcolm Gladwells The Tipping Point (2000), Wasik coins useful terms and elucidates the consequences of the democratization of culture making and cultural monitoring. In his anatomy of the hive-mind, Wasik ponders our receptivity to nanofame and contemplates viral cultures addictiveness, snarkiness, and parasitic tendencies. Refreshingly balanced and genuinely insightful, Wasiks mix of sophisticated analysis and intriguing anecdotes is reassuring in its valuing of creativity, integrity, and resonance beyond the days nanostory.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)