Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Anyone who predicts the death of cities has already met their spouse.

Filter-then-publish rested on a scarcity of media that is a thing of the past. The only working system is publish-then-filter.

For people with a professional outlook, it's hard to understand how something that isn't professionally produced could affect them.

The number of people who are willing to start something is MUCH smaller than the number of people willing to contribute once someone else starts something.

The music industry is still reeling from the discovery that the reproduction and distribution of music, previously a valuable service, is now something their customers can do for themselves.

The downside of fame : being unable to reciprocate in the way our friends and colleagues would like us to.

Most professions exist because there is a scarce resource that requires ongoing management : librarians are responsible for organizing books on the shelves, newspaper execs are responsible for deciding what goes on the front page. The scarcity of the resource itself creates the need for a professional class.

People like to consume media, but they also like to produce it ("Look what I made!") and share it ("Look what I found!").

From now on, news can break into public consciousness without the traditional press weighing in. The news media can end up covering the story *because* something has broken into public consciousness via other means.

When a profession has been created as a result of some scarcity, as with librarians or TV programmers, the professionals are often the last ones to see it when that scarcity goes away. It's easier to understand that you face competition than obsolescence.