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The Spread of Chain Messages

Chain texts used to simply be considered be another type of spam message, but now people willingly find and send ones to one another to mark special occasions such as Christmas, the start of fall, birthdays–you name it. These oftentimes humorous chain messages are wildly popular and widespread, since they encourage the receivers to send the text to their own contacts, who in turn continue to share the message. To trace a chain text back to its source is to see who has any friends in common that also received it.

The Verge says that this “chain letter formula” has existed since the late 1800s; but thanks to the Internet, chain messages are easier to send to many more people, all who are connected either from an online connection or in person. Users may see someone they follow post a message and then feel the need to post it themselves, to share with their own followers. And the cycle of sharing the same message continues. Grazia Daily gives an example of an instance of a chain message going viral: a warning for parents to delete the “Talking Angela” app from their and their kids’ phones because it lets strangers spy on their children.

One potential way to trace the spread of such a chain message is through an ego network. A person who starts a chain text will likely first send it to their close friends/own phone contacts. This is best represented by an ego network, which focuses on the information of one person and how it spreads to others. Once the “ego” starts and spreads the information, its close connections may send it to their own separate connections not linked to the ego, who will keep the message moving through the network that started with a single ego.

One way someone might spread their chain text is through their followers. These followers likely have common interests and some may follow one another. They will also have followers who will spread the chain message. Other potential connections include the ego’s real-life connections, who may know one another as well but are a separate cluster from the ego’s online connections. They will follow a similar pattern of sharing with their own friends. Sometimes a chain message becomes so widespread it’ll never really go away. For example, social media websites have such large global networks that most people are within the network, and there is always a possibility that the chain message is conserved over the years, such as the Grazia Daily’s example of a message from 2004 that claims Bills Gates is looking to give away free money continuing to spread to this day.

 

Main source: theverge.com/2018/9/23/17890516/forward-this-or-youll-die-in-seven-days-on-the-persistence-of-chain-letters

Additionally consulted: https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/chainmail-shares-brief-history/

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