Digital Communication: What Your Feed Knows About You
How networks, algorithms, search engines, analytics and online communities decide what spreads, and why some content goes viral.
Try 3 questions
1. Sociologist Manuel Castells' idea of a 'space of flows' describes what?
- The movement of migrants between countries
- Traffic patterns in fast-growing megacities
- Activity organized by networks rather than places
Show the answer
Answer: Activity organized by networks rather than places
Castells argued that in the network society, finance, work and culture increasingly run through connections rather than physical location.
2. Mark Granovetter studied how people found jobs. Through whom did they most often hear about them?
- Advertisements in local newspapers
- Close family members and relatives
- Acquaintances rather than close friends
Show the answer
Answer: Acquaintances rather than close friends
In 'The Strength of Weak Ties', acquaintances proved valuable because they move in different circles and carry new information.
3. In Stanley Milgram's 1960s letter-passing experiment, letters that reached their target took roughly how many steps?
- About twenty
- About six
- About two
Show the answer
Answer: About six
Completed chains averaged around five to six intermediaries, inspiring the phrase 'six degrees of separation'.
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