Shirky is right to be excited about the newfound power the internet offers in terms of group forming, however one thing he may have overlooked is that the internet makes group forming so easy, and group joining even easier that people may not even be active members of their groups or even know what the group they are joining is even about. I guess even group forming suffers from the ever present problem on the internet of over-saturation.
One specific place on the internet where it is easy to analyze the way in which people join "groups" online is on facebook. Three or four years ago, it was typical to be invited to multiple "groups" a week ranging from special interest topics, to similar geographic areas, to philanthropic causes. That trend has since faded out.
The new trend is to become a "fan" of something. Becoming a fan requires nothing but simply being a fan. Being a "fan" of something originally has the same appeal of groups: one is pleasantly surprised to see that someone feels the same way about a particular subject that they do. So becoming a fan, which requires less commitment than joining a group is the new trend.
Becoming a fan replacing joining groups seems like an inevitable step in the ways of Twitter culture. Now instead of writing a manifesto, establishing bulletin boards, and posting pictures people just write a statement reflecting what they feel, and see if others feel the same.
I agree that group finding and organizing on the internet is very helpful. I was the president of a club in high school and I cant imagine trying to organize and plan things with the club without the internet. The internet makes things so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI also agree. I remember four years ago when I joined facebook I joined so many groups and lately that has slowed down. Everyday I see who has liked what.... since it pops up on the side of everyone's homepage.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about the being able to "like" something feature. That even requires less commitment and effort that becoming a fan of something. It's interesting to see the way people engage with social networking sites and the ways in which it becomes acceptable to express one's "likes" and "dislikes."
ReplyDeleteTo add on to what Katie said, I can remember when I first got a Facebook page-- I joined so many dumb groups. I recently had to get rid of pretty much all of them (including one about stepping on crunchy leaves and one about tamagachis). I guess at some point I thought it was funny. I feel like the only reason anyone uses groups anymore (as opposed to the "like" feature) is if they lose their phone and want people's numbers that they probably never had in the first place.
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