Electronic Samizdat

By emailing to their address book, senders share documents they believe their networked community is interested in, and that haven’t received attention—or that just don’t fit in mass media formats. It’s often a way of indicating dissent with the shape and emphasis of mass media versions. (“Samizdat” was a Soviet-era Russian term for secret copying and sharing of banned information.) This informal amplification of one’s own views, and of information or comment by others that the sender endorses by sending, turns individuals into ad-hoc publishers. Many social science studies have found that face-to-face communication is the most persuasive; this kind of communication is a step away, linking the imprimatur of the personal connection with the shared information. That trust may be misplaced, of course; phony or wrong information travels just as fast as good.

EXAMPLES
(These examples have all been forwarded multiple times)

Here's an email that provides analysis of the news: Read>>

Here's a bogus piece of news: Read>>

More Info:
Oliver Twisted

Here's some material that either was created for the public domain or "liberated" into it by emailers sending to their personal networks:

Bush/Star Wars poster This poster, originally created by Mad Magazine, quickly lost its reference, and became a forward that appeared in many inboxes.

World Map picture By the time this image had landed-without attribution-in an inbox, it had been forwarded to seven addressee's address books.

Duct tape for homeland security This image-also unidentified-had been forwarded to three addressee's address books by the time it arrived in our inbox.

McDonnell Douglas Warranty Card Info This is a very old piece, with some new legs thanks to the war...

What If America Loses the War? (Pictures Emailed)

Is this our fate? (Picture Emailed)

More Info:
Rallying around the flag online