I've started reading Clay Shirky's new book, Here Comes Everybody. So, far it's quite good.

I've decided to post a series short notes on this book as I go along. Just to help me remember what I thought was important, and hopefully to allow you to help me figure out what it all adds up to.

Chapter 1:

(pg. 20) "...we are living in the middle of a remarkable increase in our ability to share, to cooperate with one another, and to take collective action, all outside the framework of traditional institutions."

This line jumped out at me when I read it. It's basically the central thesis of the entire book. It especially resonated with me from a strategy perspective. If you are in charge of running any kind of organization—or your clients are—then you should be saying to yourself or asking your clients, "This is the reality of the world we live in. What are we doing to enable this and benefit from it?"


Chapter 2:

(pg. 35) "The basic capabilities of tools like Flickr reverse the order of group activity, transforming 'gather, then share' into 'share, then gather.'"

I just like this simple insight.

(pg 48) "...we can have groups that operate with a birthday party's informality and the multinational's scope."

In the book, Shirky is speaking specifically about the ease of coming together and the grand potential of the work that can be done. I'm also very interested the nature of the relationships in these new types of communities; I'm fascinated by how they can foster an intimate level of trust, while sustaining that trust across such a huge network. I think that this is the real disruptive force in the evolution of influence.

Comments are welcome.