The Power of Many: How the Living Web Is Transforming Politics, Business, and Everyday Life

by Christian Crumlish

"A lot of people are starting to use the Internet to reconnect themselves to their neighborhood, their community, and the world. The Power of Many is a great survey of the way this is really being accomplished by many individuals working together."
—Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org "What a fascinating topic. If you're interested in the future, the past, or the present, then you should read this book."
—Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder of Meetup.com and Fotolog.net The development of social networks on the Web touches countless aspects of our everyday lives. With instant access to people of similar mindsets, near or far, we can readily form partnerships with more people and in more ways than ever before. It's now possible to use Internet tools to organize a rally, energize a political campaign, arrange a date, join a support group, or sell a product, as naturally as we use a phone. Through a series of pertinent case studies and interviews with leading thinkers and doers in this rapidly evolving field, Christian Crumlish uncovers universal themes and lessons learned. He illustrates how we use peer-to-peer technologies--web services, blogs, mobile phone SMS, and more—to accomplish widespread goals. He also suggests how we can take even more advantage of these technologies to connect with people who have similar interests. Discover how Howard Dean's campaign used the Internet to take a little-known candidate a long way. How activists arrange public meetings and drive letter-writing campaigns. How individuals find much-needed help for personal issues. How artists promote and air their creative genius. How business people and singles seek potential partners. And much, much more.

Here are just a few of the more than 60 experts, businesspeople, activists, and writers who share their The Power of Many explores how people are using new methods of social computing to simplify the ways they locate others who share their interests and kindle face-to-face communication. It reveals the tools that make it nearly effortless for groups and individuals to accomplish significant results in the real world. By understanding these trends and techniques, we can identify where and how to apply them in own lives. See the companion website at www.thepowerofmany.com.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2004

Reviews

[Gerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regret that it took me so long to write this review, since I knew about the book before it came out. But since that time I have witnessed its premise proved true over and over again in the local political process. Something very special--new and not so new--is at work here. Today more than any time I can remember (including the worst of the '60s), responsible, hardworking citizens feel alienated and abandoned by the democratic process. What good can taking action do when such gigantic and powerful players are on the other side of the debate and show no respect for reasoned argument or even the rule of law? But pick a seemingly tiny, local problem--trash pickup or snacks in school vending machines or use of public parks--and here are issues for which my neighbors will go to meetings, pull out their wallets, and even endorse candidates. Cluster those interests in a vertical website, allow some accretion to take place, combine those online credit card micro-donations, and suddenly thousands of like-minded folks find out that they have clout--and lots to talk about not only on trash disposal, snacks, and recreation but also on sewers, land development, zoning, business licensing, taxation, representation, and war and peace.

Hail Crumlish Caesar! Long live the Republic! Blogs are free speech!

[Nita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I plowed through this book today as I'm writing a social media white paper for work. It's totally fine and Chumlish Churlish whatever-his-name-is does not suck. That said, it's really only for people who are over 45 and/or are not terribly familiar with the Interwebz. It also has more of a Politics angle and less of a Bidness / Everyday Life POV.

If you know what a BBS is you should NOT read this book.
If you have no interest in social networks you should NOT read this book.

As someone who has been blogging since 1996, I didn't need to read this book, but for the sake of my clients, it's great to grip quotes from the mouths of other people in order to lend an air of legitimacy to a .pdf, n'est-ce pas?

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this is what I get for saying, "well, I'm pretty busy right now, I guess I'll review this book later," because I honestly remember absolutely nothing about this. I assume I gave it three stars because there was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it gave me no information worth recalling. There are a whole bunch of books out right now about mass collaboration, but a lot of them just kind of say the same thing over and over (except for Wikinomics, which seems to pretty much be the core text in the field at this point).

[Erkan Saka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe the first chapters in which the author describes how the Dean presidential campaign used internet is very insightful. The rest of the book is a bit of repetitive of the initial arguments with new examples...