Clay Shirky cranks out a nice overview on group dynamics and social software. A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy." touches on both social sciences the group behavior of online communities. I really like Shirky's dive into W.R. Bion's book "Experiences in Groups." (Extra-bonus to use see pre-Internet literature providing value). There are a few points that make the article relevant to network-centric advocacy.
First, it challenges the "build the self-organizing tools approach" with a rich history of self-organizing tools that eventually are destoryed by the lawless nature of the tools. (We should look at his guidelines to see if they apply)
Second, the article stresses the importance of group membership and groups (somewhat anti-network-centric). "It's obvious that there are no groups without members. But what's less obvious is that there are no members without a group. Because what would you be a member of?"
Third, the article has a "seed" quote. (one of those quotes that I know is important and worth exploring but I need to let it germinate for a period of time.)
"So there's this very complicated moment of a group coming together, where enough individuals, for whatever reason, sort of agree that something worthwhile is happening, and the decision they make at that moment is: This is good and must be protected. And at that moment, even if it's subconscious, you start getting group effects. And the effects that we've seen come up over and over and over again in online communities. "
The quote sticks and is worth mullling over. I agree with it. Group dynamics do eventually take over. However, network-centric advocacy seeks the sweet spot of the "complicated moment". Acting while the momentum forms and disappearing before group effects outweigh the benefits of scale. I can think that flash mobs might fit the "sweet spot". If the mob stayed for more then a few minutes police, fire codes and permits, leaders and rules would need to quickly get involved. However, the gratification is complete and the crowd disappears before negative group effects kick in.
Can the speed and shorter nature of network-centric advocacy campaign life-cycles negate much of his talk. What is we don't make the mistake and don't feel the need to organize a long term community? I can't resolve it so it is a "seed quote" I'll return to in the future.
