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Social Collectivity

Online access to millions of other individuals and the ease with which networks of like-minded people connect, has created the foundation for new forms of technology-enabled collaboration.

An image of a book cover that shows iconic silhouettes of people holding various consumer products
Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers discuss the power of social collectivity and the Internet on both on- and offline consumption patterns, particularly how technology-enabled sharing is shaping how we live.


The ability to connect with other people, around background, affinity, need, social links, expertise and many other attributes in a nearly friction-free manner has encouraged the emergence of many forms of social collectivity online, and has helped this dynamic become one of the defining trends of the Internet era. Some might argue it is so fundamentally defining of the medium that social collectivity is now shaping new generations for whom digital technology and communications are core to their lives. In the realm of digital media, it means everything from collectively producing content through social media to collaborative consumption. Increasingly, these patterns are being tracked, measured and used to drive how media is delivered, and how it is perceived, through voting, comments, recommendations, viral transmission, etc.

Signals:

  • The online rating site Digg was one of the first major platforms to harness the idea of the social collective on the Web, allowing users to “digg” or vote a news story to the top of its site, and thus power the story or item to broader public attention. Digg led the way for social media such as Facebook and it’s “like” feature, and YouTube’s viewing statistics, and both of these services’ embedding strategies that weave social collectivity into many other Web, mobile and now TV services, retail and beyond.
  • Amazon’s early use of buyer comments as an additional decision filter for products it sells also set the tone for opening e-commerce and other areas up to the social collective. It has now taken this dynamic to new levels with the Kindle e-reader, enable social commenting and annotation of e-books read on the device—allowing users to see what others think about certain passages.
  • Social networking is now the top application used on the Web in terms of time spent. Social networks have become the primary means of the social collective mobilizing, whether around entertainment or social causes or practically any other activity which can be connected or documented online.

Implications:

  • Peer actions and transparency provided by the Web are both now heavily influencing both online and offline behavior, particularly as off-line activities and consumption can be linked to online services. Consumers are “swarming” to a much greater degree around topics, products, and media because of this transparency into social actions.
  • Product development and innovation, including around media, are becoming strongly shaped by collective social actions enabled by the digital networks. From fan support for TV shows, instant reaction to film, and downloading of book chapters, all now function as an instant indicator of demand.

Countertrends:

There is emerging discussion about the failures of social collectivity online, particularly around putting too much reliance on crowdsourcing idea generation, or reacting too quickly to the digitally expressed whims of social groups online, as the network tends to magnify impact and effect or collective sentiment. However, deeper embrace of broader social effects of technology appear to be “hardwired” into the expectations of a generation raised on technology.

Extrapolations:

Social collectivity on digital networks impacted the very highest levels of government in the US elections of 2008, and continue to do so there and in other countries. Despite setbacks along the way, the so-called “hive mind” of the social collective may become the primary source of inspiration and approval on new media and product development in future, contributing not only ideas but content and components for many forms of media.

Other Resources:

Clay Shirky, “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations” (Penguin Group, February 2008) .
Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers, “What's Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption” (Harper Business, October 2010).
http://www.smartmobs.com/(external link)
Henry Jenkins, “How YouTube Became OurTube,” Confessions of an ACA/Fan, October 18, 2010, http://henryjenkins.org/2010/10/how_youtube_became_ourtube.html.(external link)