Office Hours: TH 3:30-5:00 and by Appointment

ASCJ 220 GOING VIRAL September, 2014

Professor: Jonathan D. Aronson Email: [email protected] Office: KER206 Office Hours: TH 3:30-5:00 and by appointment Class: Fridays 2:00-5:20 in KER 202

Background and Rationale: This experimental class considers why certain people and ideas go viral and others do not. Its thesis is that the rise of the Internet and social networking changes the ways people will get jobs and succeed in careers in the future. These developments also are altering our notions of privacy and digital visibility.

Start with two pre-Internet slogans -- Andy Warhol predicted that everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. The motto of the Benton and Bowles, a real ad agency of the "Mad Men" era was "It's not creative if it doesn't sell." Add the popular notion that "The Internet changes everything." Ok, but that is not very helpful. How specifically does the Internet (and YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) change the landscape and in this instance how can students use these new tools to bolster the attention their ideas get, their visibility in their chosen fields, and thus their job and career prospects? Why do some people, ideas, and events garner attention while others are ignored? How can students use these new tools to market themselves and their ideas and creations broadly and what are the costs to their privacy, intellectual property, etc. if they go down this path?

Requirements: This is a 2-unit credit/non-credit course. To receive credit students must complete a series of in-class presentations, homework assignments, and compete to take a website viral. Attendance and participation are required. This class is built around developing analytic capabilities and Internet skills that will serve students in their careers. There will be a significant offsite training session, most likely at YouTube. Academic Integrity: The Annenberg School is committed to upholding the University’s Academic Integrity code as detailed in the Scampus Guide. It is the policy of the ASCJ to report all violations of the academic code. Any serious violation or pattern of violations of the Academic Integrity Code will result in the student’s expulsion from ASCJ majors or minors. The University may also decide on further consequences.

Disability Accommodation: Students requesting academic accommodations based on disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open M-F, 8:30-5:00pm. The office is in STU 301 and their phone is 740-0776.

Class Schedule

1. (Oct 10) Introduction, Analytics, and Assignments: The goals and the assignments of the class will be laid out. Most of the session will involve discussing YouTube video that went viral and others that did not. We ask what are the factors that explain why certain people, events, or videos go viral and others do not? Students will be asked to develop a short analytic paper or presentation that looks at the factors led to success in various formats.

Assignments: Read: Jonah Berger, Katherine L. Milkman (2012) What Makes Online Content Viral? Journal of Marketing Research: April 2012, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 192-205. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jmr.10.0353 Amber Mac, “Jonah Berger On The Science Behind Why Things Go Viral,” Fast Company, Available at: http://www.fastcompany.com/3030997/bottom-line/jonah- berger-on-the-science-behind-why-things-go-viral

2. (Week 2) Individual Consultation: All students will be meet with the instructor individually or in groups of 2 or 3 to discuss their paper and analysis before papers/presentations in detail.

Assignments: Read: Jonah Berger, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, (New York: Simon & Schuster, March 2013).

3. (Oct 24) Analytical Session: Presentation of papers and discussion to draw out and codify hypotheses and lessons explaining the reasons some people, books, phrases, events, and ideas go viral. We will specifically consider how to measure “success” in making something go viral.

Assignments: Read: Mathew Ingram, “The Internet didn’t invent viral content or clickbait journalism — there’s just more of it now, and it happens faster,” April 1, 2014. Available at:

Caroline O’Donovan, “You won’t believe Upworthy’s new way of measuring audience,” February 6, 2014, Available at: http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/02/upworthy-has-a-new-way-of-measuring- engagement/

4. (Oct 31) Field Trip to YouTube Headquarters for Training: The second task of the class is for teams of students to select a person, event, video, or idea to go viral. Fortunately, YouTube offices in Marina del Rey offer sessions to prepare would-be YouTube star instruction to help them make better more attractive and more viral video. The instructor will arrange for a special session to train this class at a time to be determined.

Assignments: Review: Mary Meeker, Internet Trends, 2014, May 28, 2014 Available at: http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

5. (Nov 7) Creation of Teams and Development of “Going Viral” Challenge: Building on the analytical work from sessions 1 and 2 and one week after the YouTube training session the class will gather to form teams and propose who or what they would like to make go viral and to develop metrics for judging success. Assignments: Mary Clare Fischer, “The Pay-Per-Visit Debate: Is Chasing Viral Traffic Hurting Journalism?” March 27, 2014 http://ajr.org/2014/03/27/pay-per-visit-debate-chasing-viral-traffic-hurting- journalism/

6. (Nov 14) Team meetings with the instructor to review progress – to be scheduled. As the viral challenge goes forward the instructor will meet with each team at least twice to review progress and fine-tune strategies.

Assignments: Tony Danova, “The Science of App Marketing: How To Help Your App Stand Out And Find Its Audience,” (pdf to be distributed).

Ann Friedman, “Going Viral: How to make content sharable” Columbia Journalism Review, March 3, 2014. Available at: http://www.cjr.org/feature/going_viral.php? page=all&print=true#sthash.HXuEncZo.dpuf

7. (Nov 21)

Assignments:

8. (Nov 28) Thanksgiving Holiday: No Class

9. (Dec 5) Presentation of Results and Discussion: Each group will present their results and be critiqued by the instructor and other teams to see what worked and what didn’t and to develop hypotheses about what could have been done differently/better. Students will also be asked how the class might be improved if it is offered again.