New Power Works Sideways

I have been reading a book called New Power, which is largely about how social media is reshaping how society works. In the introductory chapter three examples of use of new power are given:

• Harvey Weinstein vs #MeToo movement

• The patient vs the doctor

• The schoolgirl vs the state department

All are about empowerment of people that traditionally have limited power. The final example is rather scary - it is about a school girl becoming an ISIS recruit and then recruiter.

The main point given is that 'new power' works sideways, i.e. peer to peer, whereas 'old power' is top down. If a pain point in your peer is identified, that can then be answered to using social media tools. Traditionally before social media, information flowed in a top down manner and so peer-to-peer information sharing was far more limited.

Peer to peer information sharing is displacing old hierarchical information distribution more and more. Generated by Canva Text to Image