User:Sean/HereComesEverybody

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PUR3801's Take of Here Comes Everybody

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Networking

Small World networks have two characteristics that, when balanced properly, let messages move through the network effectively. The first is that small groups are densely populated… The second… is that large groups are sparsely connected. (page 215)

Shirky explains that networking is the relationship between a group of people, how it grows and how connections are maintained. It takes a significant effort to maintain a connection between two people and as groups grow it become increasingly difficult to maintain connections with everyone.

Shirky gives the example of clinking glasses after a toast (page 29). In a small group everyone clinks glasses with each other. However, in a larger group people only clink with those near them. This concept is directly applicable to communicating messages among groups of various sizes.

The structure and use of networks drastically changes the possibilities for sharing Shirky explains by using the photo sharing website Flickr. This was one of the first websites to allow users to socially share the pictures they take. Users were able to “tag” photos under relevant terms i.e. event title, location, date etc. The possibilities for tags were limited only to what the users could think of.

A more common tool today to demonstrate this would be Instagram. An example of this is using a certain hashtag on Instagram pictures that way any picture taken by anyone can be agglomerated within the hashtag. For example at a wedding guests using #BillandSallysWedding on Instagram would allow any user to search and view all photos with that hashtag on one page.

The photographers that utilize Flickr or Instagram are able to move from a latent group to a real group because they were given the tools to expand and better utilize their social network.

Coasean Floor/Ceiling

The main idea of Coasean philosophy is that an organization will tend to grow only when the advantages that can be gotten from directing the work of additional employees are less than the transaction costs of managing them. (Shirky, p.43)

The Coasean floor describes the situations when activities are too expensive for an institution to justify taking on. Rather, unmanaged groups of people can take these activities on because they work under lower transaction costs and outside of the profit motive. (Shirky, p.45)

Shirky discusses Flickr as an example of working under the Coasean floor because it acts as a platform for users to upload and group their original photos at their own will. If Flickr tried to pay photographers to produce the same amount of work, they would go out of business very quickly. Rather, Flickr allows users to find similar pictures and like-minded photographers via tags on their photos, creating a smaller network of people within the larger population of users.

The Coasean ceiling is the point at which an institution has grown too large to the extent that the cost of managing the business destroy any profit margin. (Shirky, p.44)

Basically, one needs to strike a balance between growing a company profitably but not growing the company too large for efficient management functioning. If at any point, the revenue being brought in by a product or service is less than the overhead costs, a company will not survive.

Sharing, Cooperation, Collective Action

By Alyssa Fagien and Sean Quinn

Describes group undertaking in form of a ladder.

Sharing

In his book Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky describes the sharing process in terms of photosharing website Flickr. Since Flickr has decreased in popularity since its acquisition by Yahoo, other social networking services have come to increase to void.

This is most true in the major social networks Facebook and Twitter. Facebook allows users to share posts from others' news feeds, profiles and pages, while Twitter pioneered sharing with the creation of the retweet which allows users to broadcast another tweet as their own, while giving accreditation to the user.

The reason sharing is the first step of the ladder is because it gives participants complete freedom on participation or the lack thereof. This is why users can share posts on Facebook with "Everyone" or "Only Me", for example.

The sharing process allows you to self-report news and other happenings that the traditional mainstream media might have either censored or ignored in the past.

Cooperation

Cooperation occupies the next rung on Shirky's group undertaking ladder. This demands a bit more from a user, but it allows more of a community between each individual participant.

The evolution of Twitter as a social network embodies cooperation. The microblogging site originally existed solely to share status updates, but as the community grew, the hashtag was developed and users changed their behavior towards Twitter from that of status updates to that of a community.

This is also true with Shirky's example of Flickr, which has been emulated onto what can be called the photogenic version of Twitter: Instagram. The ability for users to hashtag photos and tag them allow users who are not directly connected with each other to collaborate. Facebook has also recently been interested in developing their own hashtag, and hashtags have moved frmo a fringe feature of Twitter to the bottom left corner of every major television show, from The Walking Dead to The Simpsons.

Shirky describes the difference between cooperation and sharing that cooperation requires "at least some collective decisions have to be made."

In fact, the existence of this Wiki page is an example of cooperation between PUR classmates! Shirky mentions that the litmus test for cooperation indicates that no one person can take credit for what gets created: this is relevant now as all students will be taking joint credit for this page and the resulting grade.

Cooperation used to occur in standardized groups and forms, but with the emergence of social media, cooperation has become easier than ever.

Collective Action

Collective action is the hardest and final step of the ladder. It takes conversation to the next step: action by participants.

Collective action requires work from each individual participants and relies on their efforts to succeed. The group must have a shared vision strong enough to bind the group together, according to Shirky on p.53.

Collective action has resulted in problems before, most specifically in the tragedy of the commons as described further below. However, social networks and the spread of organizing without organizations have allowed users to form for meaningful collective action.

The most notable example of collective action in recent history is the Arab spring. This was an uprising, inspired by social media, where proponents for democracy in the Middle East were able to organize when traditional methods were censored or banned. On a smaller scale, companies and brands are able to generate campaigns for charities and other nonprofits through social media in ways that might not have been previously feasible.

The emergence of the Internet allows collective action to occur quickly and easily as large numbers of people can be reached in ways they were not before.

Power law distribution

The Power Law Distribution is the phenomenon in which the majority of work is done by only a few. This creates an imbalance in communication that exists in today's society. It can be beneficial because, now, people who want to do a lot can do so without worrying as much about people who only want to do a little. It also allows people who only want to do a little to do without feeling pressured to do more than they can or want.

This affects the future of public relations because, while people haven't changed, the tools with which people communicate and take action have. Using these new tools, PR professionals can inspire people to create change at the level of action with which they're comfortable. Before we had these social media tools, campaigns were focused on getting people who were only doing a little to do a lot more. Now, people can continue operating at their own comfort level and still take part in campaigns for change.

Failure for Free

By Jayne Elizabeth Alex Annan

Failure for free means that failing is the majority and success is the rarity.

Because failure is the majority it also comes at no cost - somebody may be exerting energy into a project, but failing for them comes at no cost. In a way failure for free benefits people because it shows what works and what doesn’t – it shows future endeavors what to do and what not to do. One example could be applied to the music industry – thousands of garage bands fail, while some singers and bands experience moderate success. However, you’ll also have the exception of extreme success in the likes of Taylor Swift or Justin Timberlake.

Failure for free is also applicable to the field of public relations. In public relations, the use of social tools and two-way communication targeting audiences is extremely important. One can lower the cost of failure with feedback and evaluation and that is a huge aspect of public relations. Overall, the effect of failure is its likelihood times cost.

If we were trying to launch a new innovative idea, we have to fit which idea would best fit the client. As a public relations practitioner you have to guess the likelihood of success or failure, but without the research of past failures (secondary research) it would be harder to reach success upon first try.