Chapter one
of Shirky is all about the power of the internet and its interaction with
collective membership. In the beginning of the chapter he talks about how a
girl loses her phone and a good friend of hers launches a cyber-campaign to get
it back that reaches out and becomes powerful enough to sway the decisions of
the New York Police Department. I think a lot of us take this power for granted
and don't realize the consequences that can happen if that power is used
wrongly. I know for example one of my friends found out an older man had been
talking his little sister so my friend started posting on Facebook the man's
name and phone number telling all his friends to message the older man. He
ended up receiving threatening messages and the story ended up going to the
police and my friend got in trouble for it. I have also seen great things done
with the internet when people collaborate. For example I had a friend that
suffered a serious fall that caused injury to his face and brain and he needed
a very expensive surgery. We made a website and even started selling t-shirts
to benefit my friend and the following got so big that we were able to take a
large chunk out of the costs to my friend’s family. The internet allows us to
reach out to a much larger following than just locals. News can spread
nationwide in a matter of hours and support for a cause can be reached far
easier than ever before. The internet combined with “power in numbers” is one
of our most dangerous tools but is also the most underutilized by individuals.
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