I was fortunate to catch a little bit of Clay Shirky’s talk at the Harvard Berkman Center a few weeks back, but it took me a few more weeks to grab a copy of his book, Here Comes Everybody, and read it. I’m really glad that I did. It turns out that it’s PACKED with all kinds of interesting points about how organizations can use community tools like social media software to build stronger communities of practice, interest, and more.
Essentially, the book talks about how the tools of the web (and even something as simple as Walkie Talkies) enable people to organize without formality. If that sounds hot to you, don’t listen to me, pick up your own copy of the book. Because that idea, actually, relates to the point. You are empowered. You are enabled. This new web is about giving YOU the tools, so that you can decide what to do.
The book is refreshingly NOT all cumbaya and “this will all work out fine.” Shirky does a great job of pointing out what our newfound freedoms cost us. He talks candidly about failures in the idea, such as “cooperation as infrastructure.” But even this should prove useful to your thoughts and plans and schemes.
I recommend Shirky’s book, and if he’s speaking near you, check him out. I promise that it will be informative, and that he’s a friendly enough guy.
Check it out here: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.
ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress
Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.
With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like ChrisBrogan.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.
- Go on a guided video tour of Thesis and see the amazing things you can do with this theme! Seriously, you’ll love it.
- Check out the Thesis demo site
- See more Thesis-based sites in the gallery showcase
sign up for the 
subscribe to the 
follow Chris on 
