Book Post - Here Comes Everybody

Clay Shirky in his book "Here Comes Everybody" explains how a new revolution is unfolding before our eyes. This revolution is not so much because of the technology we have today as it is about the way that we use that technology. We are able to create common interest groups easier than ever. These groups also can have members from every country. The ability to form these groups has given the common person a voice and in my opinion, this is the greatest change the world has ever seen. In the past, only the rich, the prominent, or the powerful could amass the crowds to fight for a righteous purpose. Now, any person can start a page on the internet pushing for a worthy cause. These pages, as we often see in our social media news feeds, gain many followers from many places. They allow politicians can get an idea of what their constituents want by seeing some of the popular hashtags. Business owners can see customer satisfaction based on recent reviews. They can also make strategic decisions regarding the direction of the company based on what consumers post on their news feeds. Beyond the social media sites, group forums and blogs are a huge think tank. Hundreds of years ago, large businesses would try to gather the smartest and most informed people they could to come up with novel and futuristic ideas. Now, it can be as easy as searching the web for forums and blogs with creative posts. I believe that a large reason that technology is advancing so quickly is because of the amount of information that is shared and consumed daily. Ideas spread like wildfire and solutions to world problems are found daily. I agree with Shirky that it is not the social media platforms that have changed all this. It is the way that we are using it. It will be interesting to see where we end up in the next hundred years.