Simply put, you should buy three copies of Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. One for yourself, one for your boss, and one for anyone else in your life who isn’t “getting” the social technology revolution.
It’s a great read for those who are already in this Internet thing to win, but I think its real value may be in highlighting the new dynamics of net-enabled communities for those who aren’t already in the loop. Here’s Cory Doctorow gushing at BB:
Unlike a regular business book — something with a one-sentence punchline that could be explained in a longish New Yorker article — Here Comes Everybody is dense and rich, with new insight on every page. It’s the kind of a book that you can open to any page and be delighted by — especially if you love the Internet — and the kind of a book that you’ll want to read aloud from to your friends.
I’ve been waiting for this book for years — something I can hand to people who dismiss the Internet and amateurism and social activity as distractions or trivia. Now I have it.
And here’s Shirky himself talking about ideas from Here Comes Everybody on the BusinessWeek innovation podcast.
Do check it out. I think you’ll enjoy it.
