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Flickr enables people to post and see
photos faster than ever. |
In the book,
Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky takes a look at how social media is revolutionizing our world and how situations are resolved using social media. Shirky starts the book by telling a story of a woman named Ivanna in New York City that left her phone in the back seat of a taxi. The person who found the phone refused to return it. Through social media Ivanna and her friend were able to raise awareness about the situation and generate a big enough following to catch the eye of the New York City Police Department which resulted in the arrest of the thief. Shirky points out that without Social Media Ivanna may have never recovered her phone. Shirky next examines the concept of Flickr and weblogs. Before Flickr people would share their photos with family and friends for their own personal enjoyment. When Flickr was created in 2005 people were able to instantly share their photos with millions of people. Flickr is used for both fun and serious events. Shirky mentions the London Transport Bombings and how in addition to the news sources there were citizens photographing these scenes who had access to parts of the incident the professionals did not and published thousands of pictures online. A similar case happened in Thailand on a woman's weblog. In 2006 during Thailand's military coup the Thai government banned the media from reporting on the incident. However, the government could not stop the people from posting photos and information on their blogs depicting what was happening in Thailand which took away some of the government's power. Shirky addressees how social media is increasing the number of people who can post their opinions and pictures online. Before social media only professional journalists and photographers were given the opportunity to share their stories with the world. Modern technology makes it possible for anyone to share and inform the population about anything they want. Shirky concludes the section by stating that the internet has created a world where even though we are not professionals in the media industry, we can spread information just as well.
Click
here for the link to the New York Times story of the woman who left her phone in the back seat of a taxi.
Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.
