2. Space of Flows
“Space organizes time in the network
society” (Castells, p. 407).
The Information Age is ushering in a
new urban form: The Informational
City.
By: Winnie De Moya
3. Informational City
“Because of the nature of the new
society, based upon knowledge,
organized around networks, and partly
made up of flows, the informational
city is not a form but a process, a
process characterized by the
structural domination of the space of
flows” (Castells, p. 429).
By: Winnie De Moya
4. Is Twitter the
informational mega city?
“Space is crystallized time” (Castells,
p. 441).
“Space is a material product, in
relationship to other material products
– including people – who engage in
[historically] determined social
relationships that provide space with a
form, a function, and social meaning”
(Castells, p. 441).
By: Winnie De Moya
5. Case Study:
Twitter & Whitney Houston
A group of Twitter
users knew of
Whitney Houston’s
death 42 minutes
before it hit the
press.
By: Winnie De Moya
6. Twitter Space:
Average Users
“The first material support of the space of
flows, is actually constituted by a circuit of
electronic exchanges” (Castells, p. 442).
Twitter serves as this electronic exchange
circuit
First tweet about Whitney’s death at
7:15 p.m. on Feb. 11th
• Only 16 users responded
By: Winnie De Moya
7. Twitter Space:
The AP & TMZ
“The second layer of the space of flows is
constituted by its nodes and hubs”
(Castells, p. 443).
When AP reported (tweeted) the
announcement of her death at 7:57 p.m., it
took 5 minutes for 3,000 users to respond.
TMZ followed shortly after and the news
spread like wildfire.
It’s estimated that Twitter disseminated the
news of her death around North America in
less than 30 minutes.
By: Winnie De Moya
8. Twitter Space: Validity
“The third important layer of the space
of flows refers to the spatial
organization of the dominate,
managerial elites” (Castells, p. 445).
@AjaDiorNavy’s first tweet was lost in
the ether of Twitter; the tweets from the
AP and TMZ were not.
Verified accounts matter in terms of
spreading the word of a big news item.
By: Winnie De Moya
9. Monetizing Traffic:
The Grammy Awards
Immediately after her death
was confirmed, Grammy
executives ushered in
Jennifer Hudson for a
tribute to the star.
During the Grammy’s, the
velocity of tweets peaked at
10,901 tweets per second.
When Jennifer’s tribute
began, the tweets ceased,
and did not start again until
her performance was done.
By: Winnie De Moya
10. Monetizing Traffic:
Glee & iTunes
On Feb. 14th, Glee cast
member, Amber Riley,
performed a rendition of the
Houston’s version of “I Will
Always Love You” on the
episode ‘Heart’.
Executives of the show
closed the episode with an
epigraph, devoting the
episode to Houston.
The original song
skyrocketed to the top of
iTunes downloads.
The Glee version sold well,
as did Jennifer Hudson’s
tribute.
By: Winnie De Moya
11. Twitter Space: Unification
Twitter provided a space directly after her
death, during the Grammy’s, during her
wake, and so on for celebrities, news
sources and average citizens to
communicate their reactions to her passing.
“A trend of cultural distinctiveness in the
informational society is to create a lifestyle
and to design spatial forms aimed at unifying
the symbolic environment of the elite around
the world…” (Castells, p. 447).
By: Winnie De Moya
12. References
Castells, M. (1996). The rise of the network society.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Hardimon, Z. (2012). Jennifer Hudson's Whitney Houston
tribute so moving people stopped tweeting, Ad Age:
http://adage.com/article/digital/grammys-rocked-twitterverse/232
LaFeber, W. (1999). Michael Jordan and the new global
capitalism. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company,
Inc.
Lotan, G. (2012). Timing, network and topicality: A
revealing look at how Whitney Houston death news
spread on Twitter, Social Flows Blog:
http://blog.socialflow.com/post/7120244763/timing-network-and
Himler, P. (2012). Whitney, Twitter & SONY's Tin Ear,
Forbes.com:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhimler/2012/02/13/whitney-
By: Winnie De Moya
