1. If managers aren’t important anymore towards the formation or control of groups using online tools, what do you consider the main role websites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, or MySpace have provided newly emerging groups?
Today managers are not important in the job market for the creation and management of online websites because the websites have made it accessible for any person to control a website. It used to be that one person was needed to start a business they had a to plan ahead so that they had enough time to contact every person involved in the business. Now with email on people's phones it is very easy to access everyone in minutes. In Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everbody Ivanna looses her phone Evan, a friend of Ivanna, creates a website in order to locate the lost phone. The website was productive and eventually Ivanna found her phone. The website generated a lot of followers, just random people, and together everyone searched for her phone. By Evan creating the website put him in the role of a manager and he controlled the situation. Facebook has allowed people to become more creative and independent because you are in charge of your Facebook page. Instead of looking to a manager to tell them how to design a Facebook page, people have done it on their own.
2. Describe a group you are a member of (online community, church, job, etc.) and how it is organized. Is there management? How is information distributed within the group?
I am a member of a Jewish interest sorority on campus called Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi. It is organized in a hierarchical manner with an executive board who gets to make the final decisions in the organization. There are five positions which make up the executive board such as president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and member at large. Without these five positions the sorority would fall apart because we are used to needing approval and waiting to hear about final decisions. At meetings the executive board talks about any important topics and reveals new thoughts and conclusions they have determined. After they speak everyone else is allowed to speak and ask questions. This is the management style of the sorority and how information is passed down to everyone.
I want to make sure you understand the first question fully -
ReplyDelete> Today managers are not important in the job market for the creation and management of online websites because the websites have made it accessible for any person to control a website.
My question wasn't about the running of the websites (and I'd argue the role of running the website is still important, someone has to code it, maintain advertisers, and deal with user requests).
It was instead behind the groups that use social sites to run their organization - whether it be a sorority, a political action group, a parent-teacher association, or a relator's office.
When we traditionally think of orgs that DO something, there's usually leadership behind them. But in this age, these groups are able to form overnight and accomplish a lot... I wanted you to speak towards this phenomenon.