Technology for your Mission

From a paper I wrote recently:

The Online Micro-Community is the next generation of web-based technology. Building upon the implementations and lessons of the broad-spectrum Online Social Network (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc), this technology focuses the enormous energy and power of geographically and temporally dispersed communication towards a specific goal or interest.

While the true ripples of this technology are yet to be realized, there is no doubt that it has and will continue to make very real changes to our society. It is already changing the way in which we tackle problems – connecting the few individuals who have a vested interest in a niche concern and changing the way society as a whole deals with its problems. Micro-Communities have begun to educate and empower consumers, beginning the “open sourcing” of information and helping to alleviate some of the worst effects of a highly specialized society. Finally, Micro-Communities are providing vast new marketing resources for companies, and are likely to shift clients from passive receivers of services to active participants.

Of course, this positive change is not without its challenges. Many of the issues inherent in modern online communication mediums are made more potent by the social interactions of Online Micro-Communities. Lack of credibility and the possibilities of legal repercussions for contributed content will shape the use of these websites. Moreover, the increasing collaboration allowed by Micro-Communities has the potential to increase conflict between factions of society, a threat that will be difficult to address.

All of these impacts and challenges reflect a fundamental change to our society, one already in motion but likely perpetuated and strengthened by the rise of the Online Micro-Community. Society is becoming more collaborative. TV, radio, and print – all critical technologies in the progress of humanity – have one crucial flaw; they are passive communication mediums. Because of their inherent lack of collaboration, these technologies lack all but a vanishingly small portion of the World Wide Web’s Potentia. Online Micro-Communities are the most recent, and the most promising, manifestation of this potential.