ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. Promiscuity names a mixed bag of intimate relations, not just sexual, between and among individuals or elements drawn from heterogeneous contexts. Henry Jenkins is one vocal opponent of the language of media virality, preferring to talk of 'spreadable' media. Analysis shifts between mediations of the Abu Ghraib scandal, notably in Errol Morris's documentary Standard Operating Procedure, and a recent 'meme' of videos of US soldiers dancing and lip-synching. It seems that distribution should move content through networks in the manner of a virus, but the content should not be called a virus. Discussion of viral media in the present social networking context is manifestly uneasy about its relationship to viruses, but it also depends significantly on this relationship. Henry Jenkins is one vocal opponent of the language of media virality, preferring to talk of 'spreadable' media.
