Cognitive Surplus and Relocation

I have recently read Clay Shirky's book "Cognitive Surplus" that is good background to social media and "creativity and generosity in a connected age".

For anyone who can't quite get their head around social media and its place in our chaning society, I would highly recommend the read; Buy from Amazon

Shirky describes 4 necessary components for social media to exist;

1. Means- The growth of the Internet and the new ability to "publish" content publically at little or no cost.

2. Motive- In any field, for any hobby or interest, amateurs have always existed. ie. People that love their particular activity for the beauty of the activity, not money or any other phony motivation, but for the pure love of doing whatever they do. Like minds with the motive to do what they love can now connect with each other so much easier.

3. Opportunity- Digital networks make sharing cheap. In the old days, if you wrote a book and wanted others to read it, you got it printed through a publisher....... at a very high cost. Now you can offer your digital book to thousands of people for almost nothing. In past lives, people didn't share, but not because they didn't want to, but because the opportunity did not present itself. Social media has changed this, and amateurs now have the opportunity to share their works.

1, 2 and 3 above, are basically about "community", "cost" and "clarity". An increase in the size of communities, a decrease in the cost of sharing and clarity in the presentation of information make it possible to increasingly combine information and knowledge like never before. But there is a 4th ingredient needed to make social media work.

4. CULTURE- People's beahaviour toward one another isn't fully defined by the market or just the motive or opportunity, but also by the culture that exists within that community. A community needs a set of shared assumptions about how it should go about their activities; in order to be fully functional a group has to do more than just understand what its members care about or love. The book uses the example of groups within "PatientsLikeMe.com"; basically people with like illnesses who share their experiences, feelings, fear, etc. Hospitals, doctors and the like have not been able to cultivate such groups in the past, as the culture of their profession is to maintain the "privacy of information" and not share the records of their patients. The groups on "PatientsLikeMe.com" have a different culture; they are willing to share their medical records for the benefit of others.

It is in this way that Social Media not only requires culture as an ingredient to success, but Social Media is also changing the culture of many things that could not be changed in previous worlds. It is my desire to, likewise, change the culture in relocation for the better of the industry.