Of course, you're all well-versed in the note, "25 Random Things," by now. But my friend actually just sent me this Slate article, and it is actually really intriguing! The goal, albeit an unrealistic one, was to track down the "creator" of the note. While no person was ever found and credited with birthing the note, over 3000 Slate people responded to a series of inquiries regarding "25 Random Things." The results, according to the Slate journalist, reveal a trend that resembles the "classic exponential growth of an epidemic curve."
Apparently, the trends revealed in the recorded posting and sharing of "25 Random Things" corroborates the hypothesis that catchy online ideas propagate according to evolutionary principles of mutation and selection. I think this only has a chance of holding true if the "ideas" are short enough to catch a user's attention, and entertaining enough to warrant a passing on. In any case, this might be useful to anyone doing research on social dynamics and Facebook. It definitely says a lot about the evolution of culture, whether virtual or in real life.
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I have actually wondered where all these chain letters originate, and the "25 Things" in particular. Whenever I get these things, I either disregard it, or, if it's interesting enough, I like making it my own, and this meme was definitely addicting. I did it while it was still 16 Things, actually, but it didn't catch on to my friends... until the 25's came up! And then I got tagged in 10+ notes in less than a week (with ppl asking me to update my note to become like theirs--a perfect 25). Amazing how this article totally encompassed that trend.
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