Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

Organizational theorist Clay Shirky contributes to the discussion of our quickly growing digital world with his 2008 book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. Shirky paints a picture of how to connect people and create movements, making his book a key resource for anyone interested in the power of social media and the ways in which it manifests itself. This riveting work describes how the tools of collaboration and decentralization, including the internet and mobile phones, have revolutionized human ability to organize and cooperate.

The main theme of the book is Shirky's belief that the power of collective action is becoming more significant in the digital age due to the increased access and use of tools of collaboration and decentralization. In addition to offering his own theories of how tools of collaboration and decentralization have changed the nature of collective action, Shirky also provides myriad examples from around the world of the ways in which social media and other digital tools are being used by people to organize themselves.

For instance, Shirky examines the example of the Icelandic Constitution, a document created by citizens in 2012 using a wiki-based collaborative process. This project showed that people could come together in an organized and cooperative fashion without the presence of a formal leader or organization. This example is one among many cited in the book, each of which demonstrate how the digital age has allowed for new forms of collaborative organization. By creating a “public sphere” in which the collective action of individuals can work together in a shared enterprise, it is possible to achieve amazing outcomes that would never have been possible before.

In order to take advantage of new opportunities of collaboration and decentralization, Shirky stresses the need to keep up with changing times and technology. He argues that the traditional approaches of organizing and leading have little to offer the participants in a society where everyone is connected and everyone can participate. In such times, it is not only necessary for individuals to be organized and led, but also for them to create their own collective projects using the available tools of collaboration and decentralization.

Shirky dedicates much of the book to discussing the challenges and implications of this new form of organization. He argues that one of the most pressing problems faced by digital collective action is approaching problems in new ways. Due to the speed and ease of connection, ideas and projects can spread incredibly quickly, and if they do not offer something genuinely new, they will not last the test of time. For example, Shirky talks about the Arab Spring, an uprising that was fueled by the great ability to connect people, but eventually failed because the revolutionaries did not offer something more than what the current system could provide.

In conclusion, Shirky's Here Comes Everybody offers an essential and timeless guide to the power of collective action in the digital age. Through a series of examples, Shirky draws attention to the immense potential of the tools of collaboration and decentralization and provides valuable insight into the challenges and implications of using them. It should be required reading for anybody interested in better understanding the power of social media and its potential for collective action.