Bigger and Faster

Chapters seven, eight, and nine focused on the growing scale, efficiency (?), and power of individual social networks and social networking tools online.

Shirky used several examples to illustrate how social networks can relatively easily be leveraged to organize many people around a common issue and then affect change surrounding that issue. Although political action played heavily into chapter seven, he did use an example that was easier to relate to. He noted how a student(s) who were upset over HSBC's attempts to attract students to credit cards/accounts with good rates and benefits created a group to discuss alternative banks and voice their discontent on Facebook. Thanks to the tremendous number of people using facebook and the Friend of a Friend linking/suggestions employed within facebook, the rate of growth sped up exponentially as more people joined this group. Facebook allowed this disparate group of disgruntled people to quickly form into a critical mass which then allowed them to act as one unit to accomplish the goal of finding a new bank that they all liked or get HSBC to change their practices, which is what ultimately happened.

Even though the proliferation of productive activities is increasing through the use of net tools and social networks, Shirky also notes that the amount of chaff posted online is increasing as well. People aren't just posting momentous, transformative, and intriguing ideas; they're also posting what they ate for breakfast, when the woke up, went to bed, etc.

Although social networking tools have the potential for tremendous good and organization, they also run the risk of overwhelming users and viewers with a sea of pointless information. However, thanks to our own internal psychological filters and filters embedded in the tools, we can tailor who and what we interact with online in order to maximize what we can get out of the experience offered through social networks. Granted this does create a level of separation, but these concentrated social networks can also create connections to other concentrated social networks without burying users in information.