What do you mean when you say SSB works with Gossip?

Is gossip some esoteric computer science protocol, or do you mean like real-life gossip?

Both!

Part of the philosophy behind Scuttlebutt is that software should better represent how humans actually relate. The connections between humans should map approximately to the connection between their computers. In other words, the architecture beneath everything is inspired by actual human behavior, and is built to function like human behavior.

There are some great pages posted on scuttlebutt.nz that go into gossip as a protocol,found here. But gossip as a concept-- you meet to talk to your friends about your mutual friends and catch up on what everyone's been up to and saying-- serves as a great summary of how scuttlebutt functions.

Sources

• Answer taken from section of this thread. Shoutouts to @ferrouswheel for asking the question!