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| Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations | 
 enlarge | Author: Clay Shirky
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.07
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 1985
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 1594201536
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9781594201530
ASIN: 1594201536
Publication Date: February 28, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Interesting, but not as powerful as "Marketing to the Social Web" April 6, 2008
5 out of 25 found this review helpful
This book is interesting with some facts and figures that I like, but a lot of anecdotes to illustrate ideas, which I am not hot on. Prefer the facts and principles
 Well-written and informative April 5, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Clay Shirky does a very good job documenting and explaining how new technological tools (e-mail, weblogs, wikis etc.) have, after becoming widely accessible, revolutionized how social groups can form, interact and achieve their goals.
He cites the usual suspects like e.g. Linux and Wikipedia as exceptional feats in free collaboration. But there are a lot of other interesting stories about small and large groups with vastly different objectives in the book you have probably never heard of.
And more importantly, while he explains how these projects and the tools they use work (in a way geared toward non-techies), the book is really about why they work from a sociological point of view. It is delighting to notice all those communities and group projects that have come out of nowhere to, seemingly without organization, build something for themselves and others. But it is really enlightening to read Shirky's well-written explanation of the underlying principles.
The book is fun to read and, considering its topic's impact on society, should be of interest to just about everybody.
Social media empower groups, challenge institutions April 9, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As the invention of the birth control pill and the transistor have led to fundamental changes in society, so too has the invention of social media and the Web 2.0. Online social networks have enabled productive, collaborative groups for form--groups that are larger and more distributed than at any other time in history.
This in a nutshell is Clay Shirky's argument in Here Comes Everybody. Shirky studies the places where our social networks and technological networks overlap. On the faculty of NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, he writes and teaches on the social and economic effects of the internet.
This very readable book examines the ways that new communications technologies enable groups of like minded people to form more easily than ever before, regardless of geography.
The Perfect Text for the Hyperconnected Era May 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Brilliant synopsis of what's happening - right now. Features that are important to every individual, every organization, every government, and which can no longer be ignored. Clay lays out the case, example after example, and ties it all together. Highly recommended.
 Tales from the Long Tail May 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The effect of the Internet on our culture has been the subject of several interesting books over the last few years: Wikinomics, The Long Tail, etc. Here Comes Everybody is much in the same vein as these, it has the usual requisite topics...six degrees of separation, tragedy of the commons and so forth.
Each author brings their own fresh insights to the discussion, two ideas that stand out for me from this book are the concept of Social Capital, and that of a "Coasian Ceiling" to the size of an organization. Author Shirky utilizes the concept of Social Capital (you scratch my back, I scratch yours) in order to help explain the growth of social networks in light of such obvious challenges such as geography and plain old self-interest. A 1937 paper by Ronald Coase entitled "The Nature of the Firm" is used to explain how The Internet has succeeded in changing the nature of work by reducing the cost of exchanging labor. In other words, people do not have to get together under one roof in order to work efficiently.
These are certainly stimulating ideas and this book has many more examples of the how The Internet is affecting our day to day productivity. Somewhat more disturbing are several examples of group action that result from Internet communication. One example is how The Internet is employed in vigilante, albeit non-violent, justice. Another example is related to flash mobs and civil disobedience. Hopefully these are just tales from the long tail and The Internet will remain more related to the exchange of information than as a tool for achieving political and legal ends.
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