#ViralMovements

This week I am writing all the way from New York City. This week has been a complete adventure for this southern gal, as I have ventured out of my comfort zone and into a world completely different from my own. Though none of this has been done without a bit of academic reading.

This weeks readings are about political and social media campaigns as well as viral movements. Something that struck me as interesting kind of in relation to this viral movement is my snapchat. As I have traveled to NYC and throughout its five boroughs I have seen something quite interesting. Every time I change places my snapchat recognizes this and  gives me boarders that tell where I am. This kind of freaks me out after las week's lessons on sur/souveillance; however, it kind of fits into this weeks lessons. Gustafsson brings a new term into the light, viral politics and viral movements. These are simply new ways to create change and publicity for a common cause, much like my snapchat. This sense of viral politics is a new one and instead of us picking and choosing which political movements we choose to be apart of, through the social media boost we are now saturated with this information and know about it whether we choose to or not.

Take the Chickfila campaign a couple of years ago. As Jill Weber writes about the 2012 controversy and how greatly it impacted society in just a few days. No matter which side you were on you were on you still had passion and chose to defend your beliefs. Even those who chose to not do anything about this and did not really care about the controversy, those people can still say they knew about it and had an idea of the situation. This is just an example of Gustafsson and his political and viral movements.

Social media is the new pony express, or world wide web, it is our quickest way to obtain information. The argument has been made over and over again if social media is taking over and pushing out traditional media. In my opinion, it isn't. It is teaching an old dog new tricks and revamping the traditional into the new world.

So like my snapchat has done this week, it takes my location, filters and boarders and those around me and combines them into one common "story" for all those in NYC to see. This is the new viral movements and a new way for information to be distributed. The most effective, with the least cost.