Viral media’s success is measured solely by shares, never critical approval

Evidence

“For the artist, a work can be celebrated even if the only people who like it are a small group of curators and collectors,” he wrote. “For the contagious media designer, all that matters is how other people see the work. If people don’t share the work with their friends, it is a failure regardless of the opinion of the creator, critics, or other elites.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 949

Categorization

• CANDY: The contrast between artist and contagion designer is a crisp, quotable framing of audience-vs-creator metrics.