Reading January 31

The final chapters of Shirky focus on what it takes to create a successful online group. The three things you need, in order, are a promise, a tool, and a bargain. You make a promise that a group can get behind. The promise has to be something out of the ordinary, to get potential users attention. There is enough to do already, they need a good reason to get involved, even if it is just an implied promise and not an explicit one. That is, imply what is possible without stating it explicitly.

Then you give them the tools to work toward that promise. Tools are becoming more and more numerous. As Shirky says, the launch of Twitter happened during the writing of the book. New ways to connect with each other are being created all the time. "As tools get better, the size of what is plausible grows". When tools are new they are at a disadvantage however, because not a large amount of people are using them. Twitter has slowly grown into something mentioned on newscasts and sitcoms as a socially recognized part of culture, but when it first began only certain people were using it. As these new tools have more time to grow they become more and more useful.

Finally, a bargain is needed to bind the users together, a bargain that will help them all work together towards the promise. The bargain may be the most important factor, as the tools and promise are nothing without a bargain to regulate the community and determine what kind of culture the online community will be. "The bargain can't be instantiated as a set of contractural rules, because users don't read the fine print". The bargain needs to be straightforward and clear, because it has to appeal to a wide subset of people.

Shirky brings up some interesting examples of groups that used these three things. Most interesting is of course talking about Egypt, considering the recent events there. The internet is taken for granted here but in many places around the world it is still something closely monitored and controlled. It is so tightly regulated because in places where information is controlled, social media and the internet become a weapon.

The bargain that wikipedia made to stay non-commercial to appease the spanish users, moving from a .com to a .org was a very interesting example of a move made for the users rather than the company responsible for the website.