#comm336

[laurenabigail167-blog]

Clay Shirky's Recipe for the Successful Use of Social Media

In Chapter 11 of "Here Comes Everybody", Shirky discusses how people can use Social Media and produce successful outcomes. 

Ingredients:

1 plausible promise

1 effective tool

1 acceptable bargain with users

Directions:

1. Introduce a plausible promise to potential group members that will make them want to hop on the band wagon or join the group.

2. Bring it all together on a tool, in this case, the social media website/app used to bring users together to collaborate and share information.

3. Lay out a few ground rules for members so that things run smoothly. These rules should ultimately lead to the benefit of the entire group in the long run.

4. Mix your ingredients together. If they're balanced properly, you'll have a great social media tool that can bring people together to create new ideas, enjoy the same hobby interests, share silly cat videos, etc... the possibilities are endless.

[friedmancomm336-blog]

Three Social and Technological Factors For the Successful Use of Social Media

**All according to Clay Shirky**

PROMISE.

Promise is the basic "why" for anyone to join or contribute to a group.  The basic requirement of promise is that there is a promise enough people believe in; the promise creates a desire for participation. 

TOOL.

After getting the promise right within a group, the next step is to figure out which tools will best help people approach the promise together.

Examples:

Wikis

Email

BARGAIN.

Tools don’t determine the behavior of the group, bargain does.  Bargain determines the culture of a group. 

Examples:

“We expect politeness of one another, and we rebuke the impolite.”

“Anything goes.”

These bargains are very different and lead to different cultures, even among groups who use the same tools.

Together, these three social and technological factors are useful for both the successes and failures of groups who use social tools.