12.2.1. Books# The book Writing on the Wall: Social Media - The First 2,000 Years [l6] describes how, before the printing press, when someone wanted a book, they had to find someone who had a copy and have a scribe make a copy. So books that were popular spread through people having scribes copy each other’s books. And with all this copying, there might be different versions of the book spreading around, because of scribal copying errors, added notes, or even the original author making an updated copy. So we can look at the evolution of these books: which got copied, and how they changed over time. 12.2.2. Chain letters# When physical mail was dominant in the 1900s, one type of mail that spread around the US was a chain letter [l7]. Chain letters were letters that instructed the recipient to make their own copies of the letter and send them to people they knew. Some letters gave the reason for people to make copies might be as part of a pyramid scheme [l8] where you were supposed to send money to the people you got the letter from, but then the people you send the letter to would give you money. Other letters gave the reason for people to make copies that if they made copies, good things would happen to them, and if not bad things would, like this: You will receive good luck within four days of receiving this letter, providing, you in turn send it on. […] An RAF officer received $70,000 […] Gene Walsh lost his wife six days after receiving the letter. He
Reading this section about pre-internet virality really made me reflect on how deeply rooted our desire to share and connect is. The example of chain letters especially stood out to me — even without social media, people still felt compelled to pass messages along, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of hope. It’s interesting that what motivated them was often emotional rather than logical. This reminds me of how similar patterns appear today on social media: people still share posts promising “good luck” or “positive energy,” and even I’ve occasionally reshared something because it felt comforting or meaningful at the moment. It makes me realize that virality isn’t just about algorithms or technology; it’s about human emotions — our longing to be part of something bigger, our belief that our small actions can ripple outward.