Measuring The Speed of Meme: An Experiment in which You Will Participate, Or Else...

[Short Version: Link to this post in the name of science.  Ask others to do the same.  Results to be announced during the "Meet the Bloggers" panel at MLA 2006.]

[Update #6: I want everyone to say hello to all the nice mefi folk stopping by this morning.  They are more than welcome to slam me here too, but before doing so they may want to check out Scott McLemee's second post about this little experiment on Crooked Timber.  I anticipated failure, not success, so the claim that I'm link-whoring misses the mark as much as the Wired article did.]

What is the speed of meme?  People write in general (typically truimphant) terms about how swiftly a single voice can travel from one side of the internet to the other and back again, but how often does that actually happen?  Of those instances, how often is it organic? 

Most memes, I'd wager, are only superficially organic: beginning small, they acquire minor prominence among low-traffic blogs before being picked up by a high-traffic one, from which many more low-traffic blogs snatch them.  Contra blog-triumphal models of memetic bootstrapping, I believe most memes are—to borrow a term from Daniel Dennett's rebuttal of punctuated equilibrium—"skyhooked" into prominence by high-traffic blogs.

For my talk at the MLA, I'd prefer being able to quantify this triumphalism with hard numbers.  Had I paid attention when "DISADVENTURE" and "My Morning" made the rounds, I could've completed this little experiment without revealing its existence.  Since I lack foresight, I'm stuck announcing my intentions and begging participation.  Here's what I need you to do:

1. Write a post linking to this one in which you explain the experiment.  (All blogs count, be they TypePad, Blogger, MySpace, Facebook, &c.)
2. Ask your readers to do the same.  Beg them.  Relate sob stories about poor graduate students in desperate circumstances.  Imply I'm one of them.  (Do whatever you have to.  If that fails, try whatever it takes.)
3. Ping Technorati.

While you do that, a script I've written will track this meme (via Technorati) across the internet in 10 minute intervals.  It will record the number of links to this post, register their authority and create a database the very size of which will cause my poor processor to fall tumbling, in flames, down a steep cliff.  (So be it.  We all must makes sacrifices in the name of science.)

My fear is that I'll post this and no one will participate in my experiment.  On the one hand, that'll be educational too, allowing me to talk about top-down vs. bottom-up dynamics, the ineffectiveness of compulsion and coercion on free-range bloggers, &c.  On the other, I would rather not tell the august body of the Modern Language Association that bloggers only stop posting about what they had for lunch (fish sticks!) when their cat strikes another (fifth today!) outrageously adorable pose...

[Update #1: This post?  Not a chain letter.  This one is—sort of.]

[Update #2: An update.]

[Update #3: N. Pepperell provides an excellent account of "the methodology slam," as witnessed in the comments below and around the web.]

[Update #4: Yes, convention dictates updates be tacked to the bottom of posts.  The Management is aware of this breach in protocol and will punish the party responsible for it.]

[Update #5: As you can see, we've taken care of #4.  Are we awesome or what? — The Management.]

Comments

[bitchphd]

Done. I have no clue how this ping thing works, though. You might want to explain it in a li'l more detail.

[Esmeraldus]

Here: http://esmeraldus.blogspot.com/2006/11/okay-bona-fide-scholarly-meme.html

And in my LJ as well, but I'd prefer not to reveal that username in clear.

[Splodinvark]

A ping! from a typical bottom-feeding Z-list blargh whose owner can't be bothered to craft an actual sentence just now

[StyleyGeek]

Hmmm... Presumably you don't really want people who otherwise never post memes on their blogs to post a link to this one. Otherwise it won't reflect the speed and pathway of a real meme, but rather the speed and pathways linking academic bloggers who think research is cool.

Or are you not bothered about that?

[timna]

good luck.

[Zapaper]

Think carefully about why a meme spreads: there are two major factors. One is how good/fun the meme is and the other is how many readers read the original blog and how many readers they have in their own networks. You are not controlling for either of these factors. Furthermore, your meme is the blog equivalent of a chain letter, which is annoying as hell. It differs from an actual blog meme in the very important respect that instead of spreading itself via its entertainment value, it spreads itself via an attempt at ethical coercion: "Beg them. Relate sob stories about poor graduate students in desperate circumstances." You're down on the level of a "Microsoft will donate one cent to kids with cancer for every copy of this e-mail it receives" hoax, except hopefully yours won't be successful. Sorry for the flame (not usually prone to those) but I feel strongly that people in the scholarly world should set a good example of clear thinking!! If we can't think, how can we expect our politicians to? This "experiment" is marvel of fuzzy thinking. :P

[CharleyCarp]

Done.

Z, it seems to me that what really separates this from a chain letter is the passive nature of it. For all the begging SEK, you, or I might do, it's still within our own little worlds. And not by emailing 100 of our closest friends.

I have no idea where the data will lead on this one -- I would have thought it might be useful to know where a linker first saw notice of this, but then the machine might be tallying that automatically. I also note that I didn't follow the instructions exactly -- I'm not going to check, but I wouldn't be surprised if non-compliance of that, or other flavors, is common. Does it screw up the experiment? Well, I don't know, and don't care enough to go back and re-write my linking post.

[Miranda]

Hope I help you out. Good luck at MLA.

[Jody]

I would just add that you've got a methodological problem of a different sort: one of your fellow panelists is the defition of a high-traffic blog writer. So instead of starting with low-traffic posts, and waiting for the idea to be "caught," you're starting right at the top.

You should have asked Dr. Bitch to wait a while before posting her link.

Maybe identify two or three ideas that got serious play on big blogs but started on smaller blogs (I have no immediate idea what those would be) and then use Technorati to get incomplete but useful data on the speed of transmission in the past? I bet you're already doing that....

[Jody]

Definition. Definition of a high-traffic blog writer.

[Another Damned Medievalist]

Done. I don't know whether Technorati will pick me up, though, because I don't have my blogspot settings way out in the open. wrt this meme moving at different rates compared to 'fun' memes -- I suggest you do both. Then you'll have a comparison between 'natural' movement and friend-assisted movement.

[G. Tingey]

I'm going to try this, but I'm not sure it wil work .... AAAAArrrg h h .......

[ceresina]

I'm an extremely low traffic blog, but I did have an effect on a meme which sorta allowed me to see (one leg of probably not many more of) where it traveled. Could you try that to see how fast it goes around? for example, contact every fifth member of your blogroll & ask them to change it somehow when they get it not-from-you?

[Libby]

good luck!

[jim]

Thought I'd add a ping from a NO traffic blog, mine, which I have ignored for months. Good luck!

[coturnix]

This has been done

[Jon Moulton]

You are linked in my blog: http://blog.myspace.com/127542408

[toomanytribbles]

i added it! poor thing.. hope your circumstances improve :P

[Chuck]

Adding mine now. I would have done the meme on Monday, but I teach for basically twelve hours straight so didn't have time.

[A White Bear]

Yeah, I wonder how accurately this can be measured. Memes are funny things. People link to them because they are entertained by them, but then, after a time, although everyone's still looking at the thing, no one links to it anymore because it's "been done." I don't link to memes because everyone who reads my blog reads higher-traffic people who stay on top of stuff better than I do. Would all of us who are linking to Scott have done so if he had provided some memey content, blisteringly entertaining or not? I would assume most of my readers already read Acephalous, so I wouldn't. I'll be interested to hear your analysis at MLA, Scott.

[The Disgruntled Chemist]

Linked from both my blogs, using exactly the same post because I am a lazy bastard.

[Mitchell Szczepanczyk]

This sounds neat. Be sure to make the source code of the program you're using available. I'd like to see it.

Also, here's a thought: I wonder if you might be unintentionally and artificially impacting the trajectory of this meme simply given the novelty of announcing that you're studying its trajectory. Kind of like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, but for memes. Perhaps it might work better if you were to study a meme that doesn't have such a public level of awareness of its study.

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

Styleygeek, a link to an academic blog that normally doesn't do memes works for me, as my results are going to be contextualized for academics who don't even blog.

Zapaper, I think you missed the part in my post wherein I said "I know this isn't being undertaken in ideal conditions; I should've observed this as a meme in the wild; I couldn't count on inspiration striking like it did with DISADVENTURE et al, &c." Your criticisms are harsh but justified, but I've already factored them into my analysis via sentences like "despite the artificial nature of my experiment, it's still interesting to note blah blah blah."

Jody, I did consider that, and I am looking at my own and other Technorati histories. The problem, though, is that I don't have real-time data for them. (And right now, Technorati's acting up, so I don't have the best real-time data for it, either, which means I'm having to triangulate the results I'm not getting from it with those I am getting from Google and Icerocket. Annoying, but necessary.) You're also correct to note that I should've ask Dr. B. to hold off...but then again, I wanted this to spread organically, and she's a part of that.

Ceresina, I considered doing that, but I think that most people who link to a meme don't substantially alter its content. It's really viral, in that respect. Without saying too much of some factors I'm tracking, there's been some interesting variety to this one already, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

AWB, you're right about one thing: had I not caught people having sex in my office, this experiment would've looked a lot different. That is, the basis of the appeal exists in part because I've already been memey, which is why people are willing to put up with an experiment like this. That's both an operating condition and a limitation, but it's something I'm factoring in.

Charleycarp, the reason I'm tracking it so closely, time-wise, is so I can see which links appeared when, which gives me insight into where they pick it up from. I considered asking people to do that, but I didn't want the meme to be too onerous. It's annoying enough as is, I think.

Everyone else, thanks for your participation. If I one day have a career, I'll try to do some kind of tour and thank y'all individually.

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

Disgruntled Chemist, that's why I tried to keep it un-onerous, er, I should be able to come up with a better word than that, shouldn't I?

Mitchell, you're right, there's the novelty of it...but then again, that simulates the novelty of a genuinely (as opposed to artificially) interesting meme. I will make the source code available after I dig through the results. It's really a simple script, though, as my programming prowess stops short of 1995 or so.

[Michael Stiber]

Of course, Blogger is hosed right now...

[julia fc]

Do knitbloggers count as academics since many of us are frustrated adumbrated phd candidates anyway?
You are brave. I salute your interview prospects.

[bazu]

done. let's see if my "low traffic blog" (gah! how horrible for self-image!) will be of any help...

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

Michael, yes, I noticed that the barrage of emails notifications from Google containing links to this post stopped about an hour ago. Annoying, but it's something that happens "naturally," "in the wilderness," you know.

Julia, knitbloggers certainly count. I'd never throw a party and invite everyone but my mother. (Hi Mom!)

[Oran Kelley]

What's a meme?

[Jane Dark]

Done! Good luck!

[Bardiac]

Done. Good luck with your research and paper. I don't know how to ping technorati, but here's the link: http://bardiac.blogspot.com/2006/11/meme-research-meme.html

[Sterling Camden]

When will you post your results?

[mamacate]

Well, I never tracked back (though I did ping), but you have now entered the knitblogosphere. Be afriad.

PS: Can we see your data when you're done?

[Emily]

Happy to help. Good luck. Looking fwd to results when available.

[Suz]

Another knitter checking in.

So, now that i've read through all of the comments and taken in some of the criticisms you've gotten; would it be at all helpful for someone wittier than i to come up with a new, entertaining MeMe that could be posted on some low level blog?

My poor sad knit blog, for example, only averages about 15 hits per day. I'd be more than willing to start one off for you, ya know...if we were to find someone witty for content, that is.

Best Wishes!

~Suz~

[Marplot]

I'm sort of embarassed to ask: what is a ping?

[Maciej Ceglowski]

Based on my experience with technorati, when they pick up a link can be highly variable and not well-correlated with the actual time that link is created (to the point of being off by days). Your methodology is already crap just on technical grounds, even before taking into account all the objections above. Try using a web bug or something like it next time.

[N. Pepperell]

Scott - I think you may have succeeded in creating something like a "methodology critique meme"...

For all those wondering how to ping Technorati, if you follow the link in the original post, this will take you to a form where you can enter your home page URL, which will have the effect of causing Technorati to come have a look at what you've been up to...

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

Marplot, if you click on the link, you can enter your blog's address in the bar and "ping" it. That'll alert Technorati that you've updated your site.

Maciej, thank you so much for your constructive criticism. As I mentioned up yonder, I'm correlating data from Technorati, Google and Icerocket, but only wrote a script for Technorati because of its variability. I did enjoy the drive-by grousing, though...

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

N.P., it does seem that way. I wanted to respond "best available tools, have to make do, blah blah blah," but it lacked the disinterested antipathy of these criticisms.

[Anne]

Agreed that you're measuring "sympathy among academics who have given conference papers", maybe more so than "how a normal meme spreads". One thing to note is that often, when posting a meme, people will link only to the place where they found it, so the original source quickly gets lost. This is true of funny images and videos, and third-party sites; not true of personal blogs posts like My Morning, where people have to come to the original place to read them. Good luck with the project.

[N. Pepperell]

For your conference paper, you can highlight the whole process as an example of a self-reviewing research process - challenge your panel reviewers to see whether they can come up with any criticisms that haven't already been revealed as your meme sprawled around the net...

[Combat Philosopher]

Ok, a link has been added. Could you tell us a bit more about the script? (I'm a geek and like this kind of thing). Also, have you thought of posting this to

[Lucy Kemnitzer]

For those saying that this is only going to be a measure of the speed of travel through sympathetic academics' blogs: I'm not an academic. I was referred here from Making Light, and once something's at Making Light -- well, I think you can just sit back and say "oh, my."

[Laura]

I'm sure you realise this exercise will boost your blog's technorati rankings, Scott. Any particular reason you didn't mention that in the post?

[dutchmarbel]

You even crossed over to Europe :)

[N. Pepperell]

Scott - It's just occurred to me: how do you plan to... er... stop this? I have visions of you having a Snopes article, explaining patiently that, while you really appreciate the links, really, the panel was five years ago and everything...

Dutchmarbel and Lucy Kemnitzer, I think it's great to get across the sea and outside the ivory tower. The topic of my talk's the way in which academic blogs create the opportunity to not only reach, but receive feedback from a wider audience, be it disciplinarily or geographically speaking.

Laura, probably because I don't care. If I wanted to actively shoot up the Technorati rankings, I wouldn't, say, devote a week-and-a-half to a close-reading of Keats. I'm perfectly happy with the size and quality of my audience, thank you very much.

Combat Philosopher, I'll share all my data eventually, but right now, I'm more worried about collecting it without crashing my computer. As for posting it to Slashdot, I'm trying to behave passively here. I've got the keys to two large group blogs, but I don't want to use them, as that would accelerate a process I'd rather watch in the wilderness.

Anne, some people need Netiquette lessons, what can I say? Alright, what I can say is that I'm trying to do second- and third- order analysis, but since my original script was a little -- let's leave it at duct tape, a wad of silly putty and some yarn -- I'm having to do much of it by hand. Tedious work, yes, but the end resul