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The Art of Online "Bombings" Spreads to Spelling

BY Nancy Scola | Monday, November 1 2010

Image credit: Brian Reis/The Daily Beast

Letterbombing is the art of spelling out a subversive message on a target's Facebook page by changing your profile picture and collaboratively using it to relay a chosen message, explains the Daily Beast's Brian Ries.

It might sound juvenile. But, writes Ries, it's an experiment in the application of collaborative gaming, and one that aims to test the boundaries of the online political space. That's one that Reis has some first-hand knowledge of; you might remember him as the guy who, back in July, led the effort pull down a Sarah Palin Facebook post on the downtown Manhattan Muslim center by harnessing the viral power of Tumblr.

The folks behind Letterbombing attempted to spell out "The Rent is Too Damn High" on Andrew Cuomo's page, writes Ries, "but one Cuomo Facebook fan not in on the joke disrupted the flow of the letters."

Instructions -- and downloadable profile pics -- available on Letterbombing.com.

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