Participatory culture refers to a culture with low barriers to artistic expression, creation, and sharing of media content. It involves online communities centered around media like Facebook and message boards where members can collaborate creatively by sharing fan fiction, videos, or modifying media through activities like digital sampling or skinning and modding. Users both consume and actively create new content, with information circulating both within personal networks and more broadly online through activities like spreading rumors or shaping news stories that reach wide audiences.