Do not expect to find any how-to’s or step-by-step tutorials on creating and executing your social media effort(s) in Here Comes Everybody: The Power Of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky, published in 2008. To increase the chance of success of your social media effort you need to understand how communities and online groups work, and what drives the members of these groups. This is exactly what you will learn in this book (position #5 in Jurgen’s list of Top 100 Best Social Media Books).

Based on several historical facts, theoretical, economical, and sociological laws, Clay Shirky explains group and community behavior in understandable words and with well chosen practical samples. Difficult issues like (there are plenty of others) transaction costs, power law distribution, social capital, crowd sourcing, group coordination, collaborative production, collective action, and social awareness are discussed and well documented with real cases. Clay covers the rise of well-known platforms like Wikipedia, Linux, MeetUp, Flickr, and Twitter as well as less well-known business cases of group action. You will learn why people on such a large scale contribute to these platforms, freely – and why it is happening now.

If you are putting any effort in social media (listening, participating, or engaging) this book is a must-read. It will help to give a better understanding of group behavior and patterns. The information provided can help you to make better decisions and therefore increase the chance of success of your social media campaigns.

You also might find Clay Shirky’s TED Talk video inspiring or follow him on Twitter.