Introduction: Controlling the Message in the Social Media Marketplace of Ideas

The presidential candidate\u27s campaign faced the threat of being derailed following a scathing depiction of him posted by an individual citizen. Regardless of whether the claims made against the candidate were truthful, the message already had gone viral, and the candidate\u27s campaign flailed in its efforts to respond. Finally, one of the candidate\u27s supporters not affiliated with his campaign repackaged the critic\u27s depiction into a new theme, one that resonated positively with voters. The repackaged message itself continued well beyond its original posting as it was replicated in different forums time and time again