Viral Culture

The Internet has obviously fuelled the apparent growing prominence of Calvinist Christianity, and in no small measures, is this because of the internet's ability to form niche cultures.

Chris Anderson, in his book, 'Long Tail' writes : "People are reforming into thousands of cultural tribes of interest, connected less by geographic proximity and workplace chatter, than by shared interests."

Calvinist Christianity is no different. I've been amused by the growing celebrity status of one blogger in particular. He has no formal theological training (although he has read a lot of books), yet because of the exposure his blog has provided, he has published a book, and is occassionaly invited to speak at a conference.

Bill Wasik, in his book 'And Then There's This : How Stories Live and Dive in Viral Culture' writes about the online democratization fame - and what technology write Clive Thompson has dubbed 'microcelebrity' as "each culture tend to coronoate its own small claque of mini-stars.'

Source: Bill Wasik 'And Then There's This,' New York: Viking, 2009, p. 47.