The network of Whisper

Cast, S. (2013) The importance of narrative

Whisper has quite a few networked narratives inside it. They can be seen in the hubs called groups. Each group connects people from all over the world who can connect with each     other by messaging any other user. According to Victoria Kuttainen (2016) narratives are a social, networked activity.

Narratives can be found in most online networks. What makes a network a narrative? It’s ability to tell some kind of story, whether it is a non-related topic or some in depth focus question. Narratives can go viral. But what makes them go viral? Kevin Alloca (2011) talked about what makes videos go viral and one of the main aspects from his online talk was the post’s unexpectedness. Narratives can all have an unexpected post which makes it go viral and in relation to the narrative itself, makes the narrative famous. 

Laurie McNeill (2012) talks about posthumanism in her biography, There is no "I" in Network: Social Networking sites and posthuman auto/biography. She explains posthumanism to be "anti-human"in a sense that writing auto/biographies would be impossible to negate the human involved in it. Posthumanism can be seen in Whisper as it allows people to hide their true identity and hide behind their narrative. Users do not have to post their personal information, however, they can if they wish. 

Narratives are a form of communication. They can be used to convey different messages to a lot of target audiences, so what networked narratives can be seen in Whisper? Many various groups can be seen to be networked narratives as they all tell some kind of story. 

Alloca, K. (presenter). (November, 2011) Why video’s go viral. [TedTalk]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_allocca_why_videos_go_viral?language=en

Cast, S. (2013) The importance of narrative [image] Retrieved from: www.mindtheproduct.com

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 6 notes [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no "I" in network: social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography. Biography 35. (1) 65-82.