What this book acknowledges is the reasoning behind successful communities through the use of social tools. I commonly utilize open sources but I never realized how this information came to be so credible and accurate. Shirky shares, "...just as everyone eventually came to treat the calculator as ubiquitous and invisible tool, we are all coming to take our social tools for granted as well." From his perspective and experience with having to unlearn previous technologies, he creates an awareness for individuals like myself who have grown up in a social networking world. He doesn't take ample time describing various sites or technologies but rather explains why they succeed and continue to grow in popularity.
Until this book I never acknowledged why I trust Wikipedia when I know it's created by the public or why I turn to group chats about various problems instead of calling the company first. I frequently refer to these tools and yesterday's iPhone malfunction was no exception. When it appeared that my phone was stuck in headphones mode I took it to AT&T to get it fixed. Instead I was given a piece of paper with a phone number on it so I could ship the phone myself and have Apple fix it. Needless to say I left disappointed. As a college student I don't have the luxury of not having a phone for more than a day and driving to Spokane would take too much time. From this frustration I looked to the Internet and found group chats tailored to my problem.
After browsing the first page I instantly had a handful of solutions and could scroll through 20 more pages of related conversation. Shirky's comment of how "Members of the community listen to each other's problems and offer answers as a way of taking care of one another," immediately registered in my mind upon viewing this mass quantity of content. It was reassuring to see so many ideas that I could personally try but even more of a relief when my phone actually worked after the twelfth suggestion I attempted. Turns out I had to suck in air on the headphone jack and let it cool down in front of the fan for a few minutes. "If a large enough population of users trying things, then the happy accidents have a much higher chance of being discovered." If the user with this solution had never posted this idea or group chats weren't even available, I would probably still have a broken phone.
With these social tools, connecting is easier and the world is constantly becoming smaller as a result. I actually love that I get news on Twitter faster than the shows that specifically broadcast current events. I love that I can search Skyrim dragons for a design project and find an entire Wikipedia specifically created for that particular video game. Even Pinterest shows me the best work outs, crafts or fashions more quickly than top selling magazines. I believe social technology is the most powerful because large communities can interact, contribute and support each other a million times faster than any print or commercial company. Don't get me wrong, I do prefer print to online. Yet nothing can beat the speed of the Internet or the power of social networks.
