The medium is the message rule
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In 1964 a Canadian communication theorist by the name of Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) published the book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In it he coined the phrase ‘the medium is the message’, which quickly became a popular catchphrase. McLuhan used the sentence again in his 1967 book The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. The error in the book’s title was due to a mistake by the typesetter. Legend has is that upon seeing the typo McLuhan exclaimed: “Leave it alone! It’s great, and right on target!”
“In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980), Canadian communication theorist “Word of mouth is the best medium of all.” William Bernbach (1911-1982), American advertising executive