Viral Math: R-Naught and Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness

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Over the past few years I’ve developed two models of contagious content: R₀ (pronounced: R Naught) and Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness. Because of the way these two systems work, I put a lot of emphasis on reach building activities (getting lots of followers, likes and views) and metrics (number of followers and likes). Based on the reaction I’ve seen to some of my recent work challenging the hegemony of “engaging in the conversation,” I’ve come to understand that I may not have fully explained why number of followers is such a key metric.

Before an individual can share a piece of…

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