The cases and examples in this book render it easy to follow and undersrtand. I’ve been enjoying reading it so far. I will briefly summary what I read, and then discuss my thoughts from the readings.
In chapter one, by using Dig.com as a case, the authors give us the definition of the groundswell--that is a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather from traditional institution like corporation. Three forces, people, technology, and economics, make the groundswell happen. Also, the reasons why the groundswell needs attention. The two key elements of the groundswell are people and technology. With trend of joining the groundswell being a must, in chapter 2, the authors tell us how and what we can do to turn the technologies of the groundswell to advantage. The principle for mastering it is to concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies which are changing in a rapid pace. The authors explain groundswell technologies from five aspects, according to how people use them. Plus, the means of evaluating and testing new technologies. In chapter 3, the authors turn to another key element--people. The Social Technolographics Profile shows how people participate and interact in the groundswell. This profile helps companies learn better about their consumers’ technology behaviors.
Chapter one to three, from my point of view, give us basic knowledge about the groundswell. From chapter four, the author tell us how and what we actually can use them (relationships and technologies). In Chapter four, by giving an actual example of one of their clients, the authors provides us with POST method, for people, objectives, strategy, and technology. It is the foundation of groundswell thinking--a systematic framework for assembling plan. Clarifying objectives is helpful to build a strategy. The authors give us five primary objectives and suggestions when thinking through a strategy. In chapter five, listening to the groundswell, the authors talk about why, what and how a company listens, also about what listening brings to a company. Word of mouth is a very powerful force. In chapter six, the authors talk about why, how, what, and where a company talks. Basically, a conversation has two sides, talking and listening. They are equally important to a company. Before a company goes further, listening and talking are two skills to master or to use them very well.
The power of the groundswell makes me think of another event. Take a look at the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. The revolutionary fervor sweeping the Arab world raised the question: how essential to these revolutions are the Facebook updates, Twitter hash tags and YouTube videos to their success?
Few can deny that the internet and social media have enabled the most significant advance in freedom of expression, opinion and association in contemporary Arab history. To that end, the internet and social media have served the cause of democratic progress in sweeping two authoritarian regimes from power and have chronicled the battles between the Libyan opposition and pro-Gaddafi loyalists. But Arab governments routinely use the internet to stifle dissent, spy, harass, intimidate, arrest and incarcerate democracy activists, opponents and poets alike.
The dual nature of the internet—not inherently a form of democracy but potentially a democratic force as well as a tool of oppressive regimes depending on how and when it is used—has reached full extent in the Arab region at the beginning of 2011. According to the Arab Social Media Report, more than 21million people in the Middle East use Facebook, with 5million in Egypt alone, and many Arab political leaders have Facebook pages.
Activists using social media have been able to aggregate and disseminate vital news and information to audiences around the world from Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya. Social media have made the protests all the more urgent and difficult to ignore. But social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and others are tools—and tools alone cannot bring about the revolutions and uprisings seen in recent weeks and months.
Keep in mind the motivations of millions of people across the region. Even if the internet had not been around, these revolutions would have arguably still succeeded. The elements of upheaval present in Tunisia, Egypt and across the region are similar to those that inspired revolutions throughout history. The masses that assembled in Tahrir Square, even after former President Hosni Mubarak pulled the plug on the internet, were a testament to the will of the people and mobilization strategies, as are the battles in Libya and protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Jordan.
Also consider that large segments of Arab populations are unemployed, marginalized and feeling powerless to change their lives under autocrats who are increasingly out of touch. Nearly 50% of the populations of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Oman and Morocco are under the age of 25. In the rest of the region, the under-25 generation makes up 37-47% of the total population, according to Arab Media Outlook 2008-2012.
Many Arab governments have devoted vast resources to building ICT infrastructures. But the ICT build-up was not accompanied by the development of legal regimes that would protect the fundamental rights of the millions of internet users. Faster internet access does little to protect people's rights to free speech, press, opinion and association—especially when Arab governments routinely use the internet for surveillance, the hacking of websites and e-mail, and the blocking and filtering of sites.
While social media have provided an unprecedented improvement in the ability of Arabs across the region to communicate, express opinions, organize and mobilize dissent, they carry the risk of official harassment, intimidation, arrest and imprisonment for Arab activists, journalists, writers and others. Arabs confront restrictions that include emergency laws, cyber-crimes laws, criminal libel, conspiracy, anti-terrorism laws, ISPs' terms and conditions, and numerous journalistic red lines.
According to the UNDP Arab Knowledge Report 2009, 60m Arabic speakers use the internet; Google expects 100m people in the region online by 2015. Well before the revolutions, Google's Wael Ghonim said 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute from the region. Indeed, the revolutions of 2011 are a struggle between new media and old politics. The state stranglehold on news and information has been altered, and the internet, social media and communications using mobile technologies appear to be firmly entrenched in the Arab body politic.
It is uncertain where the revolutions will lead. Just as easily as the internet has been used for liberation, it can devolve to oppression once again in Egypt and Tunisia and grow more virulent elsewhere. The world is watching closely. Citizens across the region who—despite government crackdowns—are determined to communicate on their own terms as constituents, can be catalysts for citizen-government engagement within a legal framework of shared rights and duties.
As Arabs across the region shake off old regimes to achieve democracy and secure universal rights, there is an unprecedented and urgent opportunity for new and old Arab governments to embark on political and legal reforms. Up to now, Arab governments have missed the opportunity to transcend the region's economic and social ills by leveraging the internet's democratic potential for their people. But the future requires a new way forward. The uprisings have helped reshape the world's perceptions of Arabs as people with the power to achieve democracy on their own terms.
