WRITING ON THE WALL

Social Media -- The First 2,000 years

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Last edited by Bryan Tyson
November 22, 2013 | History

WRITING ON THE WALL

Social Media -- The First 2,000 years

  • 0 Ratings
  • 3 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

Advance reading copy via amazon.com/vine

Publish Date
Publisher
Bloomsbury USA
Language
English
Pages
288

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Edition Availability
Cover of: WRITING  ON  THE  WALL
WRITING ON THE WALL: Social Media -- The First 2,000 years
2013, Bloomsbury USA
hard cover in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

CONTENTS
Introduction: Cicero's Web 1
1. The Ancient Foundations of Social Media: Why Humans Are Wired for Sharing 6
2. The Roman Media: The First Social-Media Ecosystem 21
3. How Luther Went Viral: The Role of Social Media in Revolutions ((I) 48
4. Poetry in Motion: Social Media for Self-Expression and Self-Promotion 64
5. Let Truth and Falsehood Grapple: The Challenges of Regulating Social Media 82
6. And So to the Coffeehouse: How Social Media Promotes Innovation 104
7. The Liberty of Printing: The Role of Social Media in Revolutions (2) 124
8. The Sentinel of the People: Tyranny, Optimism, and Social Media 147
9. The Rise of Mass Media: The Centralization Begins 170
10. The Opposite of Social Media: Media in the Broadcast Era 189
11. The Rebirth of Social Media: From ARPANET to Facebook 214
Epilogue: History Retweets Itself 240
Acknowledgments 000
Notes 251
Sources 257
Index 000

Edition Notes

Published in
New York, USA

The Physical Object

Format
hard cover
Pagination
viii, 265
Number of pages
288
Dimensions
9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
Weight
1.1 pounds

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL25431797M
ISBN 10
1620402831
ISBN 13
9781620402832

Work Description

Papyrus rolls and Twitter have much in common: They were their generation's signature means of "instant" communication. Indeed, as Tom Standage reveals in his scintillating new book, social media is anything but a new phenomenon. From the papyrus letters that Cicero and other Roman statesmen used to exchange news across the Empire to the rise of hand-printed tracts of the Reformation to the pamphlets that spread propaganda during the American and French revolutions, Standage chronicles the increasingly sophisticated ways people shared information with each other, spontaneously and organically, down the centuries. With the rise of newspapers in the nineteenth century, the nature of communication changed; increasingly, especially as radio and television, the "mass media," came to dominate in the twentieth century, information was centrally controlled. However, with the advent of the Internet, the story has come full circle, and the spreading of information along social networks has reemerged in powerful new ways. A fresh, provocative exploration of social media over two millennia, Writing on the Wall constantly reminds us how modern behavior echoes that of prior centuries -- the Catholic Church, for example, faced similar dilemmas in deciding whether or how to respond to Martin Luther's attacks in the early sixteenth century to those that large institutions confront today in responding to public criticism on the Internet. Invoking the likes of Thomas Paine, the celebrated Madame Doublet in the French Revolution, and Vinton Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet, Standage explores themes that have long been debated: the tension between freedom of expression and censorship; whether social media trivializes, coarsens or enhances public discourse; and its role in spurring innovation, enabling self-promotion, and fomenting revolution. As engaging as it is visionary, Writing on the Wall draws on history to cast new light on today's social media and encourages debate and discussion about how we'll communicate in the future. - Publisher.

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History

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November 22, 2013 Edited by Bryan Tyson Edited without comment.
October 29, 2013 Edited by gwen add description
October 29, 2013 Edited by gwen create
October 8, 2013 Created by T. Patrick Killough Added new book.