Clay Shirky: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history

1. Clay Shirky: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history

2. what does this video tell us? • Thesis: The revolution in the social media now allows people all over the world to bypass repression and censorship of information by political leaders. • Main Points : • The internet has converged all media into one. • photos + recorded sounds + movies+ radio + TV+ etc. = INTERNET • Now, a consumer is equally a producer. • Any piece of information can go out to the public before officials even find out about it. • The only way for a government to censor or filter the information available to the public is by shutting down entire services.

3. How Social Networking has Changed society by Lisa HOover • “an estimated 23% of American workers telecommute, many use online social networks as a way to stay connected to co-workers and colleagues. Those who are chained to a company desk often use (or sneak onto) Twitter or Facebook to stay in touch with friends outside of work” • “It's possible that these social networking tools are just the beginning of something, that they could lead to ways of finding and interacting with one another we never imagined, but whatever happens, you can't dismiss these tools easily. They are taking us somewhere exciting, but we have to work out how we deal with the fading boundaries these tools have left in their wake and that means rewriting our social rules as we go along.”

4. Main points: • *There is no limit in the pool of people that the media provides for us. No more restrictions on the people we rely on for information. • *There is so much freedom in the social media, and therefore so many opportunities for social gaffes. • *Users are establishing new social conventions through articles outlining proper use and etiquette of social networking. • Ex: Police sites like Twitter who call out to inappropriate actions. • *Social networking sites mix people of all attributes. • *Hierarchies will inevitably emerge to enforce social structure.

5. Question #1 • What does Shirky mean when he states that “communications tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring”? To what extent is this true? • Consider another quote from his book, Here Comes Everybody : • “It's when a technology becomes normal, then ubiquitous, and finally so • pervasive as to be invisible, that the really profound changes happen.”

6. Question #2 • How can we control and contain so much access to information? • Shirky implies that the fact that information is so freely and uncontrollably dispersed is a good thing while Hoover says that with these modern ways of communication, there are “more opportunities for social gaffes and missteps”. • Hoover goes on to say that: • “As a result, hierarchies, pecking order, and enforced social structure are bound to emerge.”

7. Question #3 • In what ways can uncontrollable media be harmful and when is it acceptable for officials to regulate what is accessible to the public?

8. Works Cited • Hoover, Lisa. "How Social Networking Has Changed Society." PCWorld. N.p., 7 Apr. 2009. Web. 30 Sept. 2012. <http://www.pcworld.com/article/162719/social_networks.html>. • Shirky, Clay. "TED Blog." TED Blog. N.p., June 2009. Web. 30 Sept. 2012. <http://blog.ted.com/2009/06/16/clay_shirky_how/>.