The origins of social media
The Economist (How Luther went viral) draws interesting parallels with the social media movement we know today and the spread of Reformation 500 years ago. The technology of the time (printing press) was important but so was the wider sharing of media among social circles. Thus the television, internet, Twitter and Facebook today merely enable a faster and arguably wider distribution of media and new channels.
The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the internet. Social media are not unprecedented: rather, they are the continuation of a long tradition. Modern digital networks may be able to do it more quickly, but even 500 years ago the sharing of media could play a supporting role in precipitating a revolution.
