Slate’s survey of its readers determines that spread of the Facebook meme followed a pattern analogous to emergent disease evolution – a long period of low density, during which various mutants (“16 things,” “17 things,” &c) competed; then a rapid spread when one variant hit the big time.
Denim & Tweed
Ignoti, sed non occulti.
Yes, I’m totally evolved and wrote my own 25 Things list. That’s a cool graph he displays on his site. But who has time to do something like that?
The assistant editor of Slate, apparently.
Actually, though, this sort of human behavioral study via social networks is probably going to get big in the very near future. I’m not convinced it’s quite as big a deal as some folks say, but it’ll still produce some interesting results.