Product Description

A woman loses her phone, and recruits an army of volunteers to get it back. A dissatisfied airline passenger spawns a movement with her web log. Citizens with camera-phones are more effective than photojournalists at documenting the London Transport bombings. The world's largest encyclopedia is created by unmanaged participants. A handful of kids in Belarus create a political protest the state is powerless to stop ...Everywhere you look, groups of people are coming together to share with one another, work together, or take some kind of public action. For the first time in history, we have tools that truly allow for this.In the same way the printing press amplified the individual mind and the telephone amplified two-way conversation, now a host of new tools, from instant messages and mobile phones to weblogs and wikis, amplify group communication. And because we are natively good at working in groups, this amplification of group effort will change more than business models: it will change society. What does it mean that someone with a laptop can spark a movement that changes the fortunes of a billion-dollar-industry or help topple a government? This profound and larger social impact is only now being explored. In "Here Comes Everybody" Clay Shirky, one of the new culture's wisest observers, give us his lucid and penetrating analysis on what the impact of this social revolution will be - for better or worse - on what we do, and who we are.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73410 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review
'Clay has long been one of my favorite thinkers on all things Internet -- not only is he smart and articulate, but he's one of those people who is able to crystallize the half-formed ideas that I've been trying to piece together into glittering, brilliant insights that make me think, yes, of course, that's how it all works' - Cory Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing and author of, Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present " 'In story after story, Clay masterfully makes the connections as to why business, society and our lives continue to be transformed by a world of net-enabled social tools. His pattern-matching skills are second to none' Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Chief Software Architect

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail
'delightfully readable ...Highly recommended'

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail
'How do trends emerge and opinions form? This delightfully readable book will change the way you think. Highly recommended'

Customer Reviews

compelling and completely human
Clay Shirky explains the social importance of new technology using a very old-fashioned technique... that of story-telling! I found Here Comes Everybody fascinating to read, not only because it's enjoyable and surprising, but because I had to re-think many of my attitudes and assumptions about the effects of the internet, mobile phones and other technologies. From explaining new forms of political protest - including how Flash Mobs changed purpose from New York to Minsk - to telling me how I should think about and understand Wikipedia once and for all, this is a profound and original book on how our world is changing.

The dissertation that never was...
I am a Computer Science student, but originally I studied Communication. When I started my communication degree I knew I would write my dissertation on how the internet has affected communication, but I changed degree and instead built a facebook application. This book has taken my two big passions in life and combined them in a way that I continually attempt to, and in a much more eloquent style than I could ever achieve.
Clay continually uses examples that for anyone who uses web resources on a daily basis can relate to. He takes these examples and highlights not only the positives that they have generated, but their limitations too. His insight into what we previously believed to be technological implications shows us that indeed they are not technological, but human social limitations. Coupled with the depth of compassion towards humans, Clay continually reminds me that humans are essentially good but require the tools to be able to put that goodness into practice.
My favourite part is his comparison of the internet and web to the printing press pushing aside the scribes. I truly believe that we're watching the birth of a new cultural revolution, Clay sees it and the examples I have taken away from his writing allow me to show the changes to my friends and family that otherwise lay blind to it.
If you are even slightly interested in the web, communication, or modern culture then you must read this book. Thanks Clay for writing such an insightful and positive guide to this culture's birth.

Interesting review of the effect of the internet
but doesn't dwell on the dark side..

Clay Shirky is primarily interested in the sociological effects of the internet and other networking tools (mobile phones etc.), or how people use them and are affected by them. Anyone with a mobile phone will be familiar with the looser social arrangements it allows. (I'll text you when I get there etc.).

In essence his thesis is that the costs of networking have collapsed and allowed us to try before you buy (or publish then filter as he puts it rather than the other way round as was the case).

In the past only companies had the resources to publish in any meaningful way, and they had to weigh up the cost of trying things and had to play safe as a consequence. He's broadly correct on the positive way that the internet has enabled Linux, wikipedia and other social networking sites (facebook, stay at home mums etc.) to exist where they couldn't have before, but he doesn't address the fact that there is a negative side to all of this - cyberbullying being a classic example. Now we're all networked the pursuit of the mob is harder to escape, he also doesn't address online vigilantism - PC Pro's columnist Dick Pountain has complained about articles being deleted by rogue groups of over-vigilant un-knowledgeable users.

His book reads very well and is full of well considered stories which pull you through, it's worth a read for anyone who liked 'The Future Just Happened' or the 'The Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand'. In some ways this book is the same central insight as the Long Tail - collapsing publishing costs allow more experimentation and a more ad-hoc arrangement of interested people. Both books focus on the power law that allows the tail (minority) effects to be economically viable.

An interesting book, which I recommend, nonetheless.