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Vox Pop: Online Communities
StumbleUponDo you think online communities given power to the people? The second of our vox pop series explores this question... Have your say.
Have online communities given power to the people?"Yes absolutely. Online communities are the natural haven for people to meet online based around their lifestyle interests, hobbies or for nothing else than being social.
Today's Times:
What we're seeing is a shift from a communications world dominated by the producer to one dominated by thousands of consumer choices. It's becoming harder for anybody - brand owners, media groups or governments - even to get moments of meaning with consumers [who] are just getting more and more confident with the technology, and using it to take personal contact out of their dealings with organisations'.
Therefore online communities offer a virtual space for people to meet, socialise and interact with each other. It would appear they are bored of being 'talked to' by brands and would rather be in command of how they communicate!"
- Caroline Teunissen, Attic Media.
"Define power....
Online communities have given people more and better ways of communicating with each other, gossiping and grumbling etc but while this feels good, it isn't power.
Power is the ability to control things in the real world - and so far there is precious little sign of those in power relinquishing any of that to something as radical as online community. The government still thinks that online democracy is about them telling us what they are doing, rather than us telling them what to do."
- Ian Dickson, Commkit and Secretary, Emint
“TheGuidLife launched on June 28th and has been built for and by the people who live in rural communities in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Funded by the South Lanarkshire Rural Partnership, www.theguidlife.net seeks to provide information about people, places, organisations and businesses in the area. Email discussion groups allow frank and energetic debates on local issues, as well as two-way communication between the rural population and the Council, the police, health services and other organisations. This month’s survey is about learning opportunities: next month we plan to ask how each village wants to be policed. So far, more than 50 voluntary organisations have signed up to get involved, while individuals are coming forward to act as section editors for topics that interest them. It’s early days, but in rural South Lanarkshire theGuidLife is giving a voice to the people.”
- Amanda Burgauer, Sharedbase Solutions.
"Jubilee2000, an internet-run coalition, embarrassed G7 politicians into promising to write off $100bn of poor country debts. Uganda’s debt cancellation led to the doubling of primary education places. Clare Short said this would have been impossible without Jubilee2000.
The Stop the War coalition, another online community, mobilized a huge anti-war demo. Moveon.org raised a 500,000-name UN peace petition. The momentum of the Bloggers for Dean campaign bewildered his official team. However, the war wasn't stopped. The UN was bypassed. Dean lost the nomination.
Contacting your MP online is probably no more effective than using snailmail. The critical resource is the time and interest of people in power, not the bandwidth to reach them. Online communities have greatest potential for empowerment if action can be taken directly by members.
Move.on is currently buying anti-Bush advertising slots on TV, with community-raised funds. Will it work? Let’s see."
- Miranda Mowbray, HP Labs Bristol
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Comments
nathan_barley said:
Re: Jubilee 2000 <p>Was the internet-run aspect of Jubilee 2000 what made it effective? I'm not sure. It helped co-ordinate the campaign and generate awareness, but grassroots pressure groups, on-side politicians, and PR stunts such as Bono pressing the flesh with cabinet ministers on MTV probably had more effect. <br/> <br/>Online petitions strike me as a waste of time, as they're so difficult to verify they will never be taken seriously. <br/> <br/>The point about contacting your MP online is not that the MP will take your opinions any more seriously than if they were delivered by snail mail -- the point it's quicker and more convenient to send your comments in the first place, thereby encouraging participation. <br/> <br/>Online communities may not give power to the people exactly, but if they encourage people to take an interest in the political process, they get my vote. <br/></p>
gordonplant said:
Online communities don't scale well <p>Historically, larger communities have been able to exert more influence, but with online communities I'm not sure that rule applies. <br/> <br/>Online communities often don't scale well. There are exceptions but most of the communities I've been part of have become less valuable to me as their size has grown. <br/> <br/>Clay Shirky wrote an article "A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy" last year: <br/> <br/>"Scale alone kills conversations, because conversations require dense two-way conversations. In conversational contexts, Metcalfe's law is a drag. The fact that the amount of two-way connections you have to support goes up with the square of the users means that the density of conversation falls off very fast as the system scales even a little bit." <br/> <br/>http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html<br/></p>
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