{"id":799,"date":"2008-01-29T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-29T14:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/?p=799"},"modified":"2008-01-29T08:16:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-29T14:16:00","slug":"what-makes-a-news-story-massive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/2008\/01\/what-makes-a-news-story-massive\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes a news story massive?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> am quite the fan of Duncan Watts<\/span>\u2019 ideas<\/a> on the unpredictably of trends. They get another outing at Fast Company<\/a>:
<\/p>\n

\u201cIf society is ready to embrace a trend, almost anyone can start one–and if it isn\u2019t, then almost no one can,\u201d Watts concludes. To succeed with a new product, it\u2019s less a matter of finding the perfect hipster to infect and more a matter of gauging the public\u2019s mood. Sure, there\u2019ll always be a first mover in a trend. But since she generally stumbles into that role by chance, she is, in Watts\u2019s terminology, an \u201caccidental Influential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the problem with viral marketing is that the disease metaphor is misleading. Watts thinks trends are more like forest fires: There are thousands a year, but only a few become roaring monsters. That\u2019s because in those rare situations, the landscape was ripe: sparse rain, dry woods, badly equipped fire departments. If these conditions exist, any old match will do. \u201cAnd nobody,\u201d Watts says wryly, \u201cwill go around talking about the exceptional properties of the spark that started the fire.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If we believe Watts, what are the consequences for news? And what makes a story massive?<\/p>\n

Here are my thoughts:<\/p>\n