I have being taken with the expression ” a community is an ongoing series of conversations”.

I’ve adopted this term through my reading of Peter Block’s book, Community – the Structure of Belonging and his latest book written with John McKnight called the Abundant Community.

These books have little in them related to social media but they have influenced my thinking about social media strategies for non profit organizations in the most powerful of ways.

A cliché like “a community is an ongoing series of conversation” helps ground me in understanding how our world is unfolding as we speak.

Like Peter Block I believe that by sharing our unique stories and perspectives we have the potential to create the communities we want.

These little cliche sayings help me keep on track as I work with organizations committed to improving the health and sustainability of their communities.

I found my latest cliché saying in Clay Shirky’s new book Cognitive Surplus – Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. He boldly states his definition as “ media is the connective tissue of society”.

The context in which he states his definition is related to breaking the notion that media is for professionals only. Clay Shirky sees that the bundle of concepts tied the word media is unraveling.

I loved this section that followed his definition of media.

We need a new conception for the word, one that dispenses with the connotations of something  produced by professionals for consumptions by amateurs.

Media is how you know where and when your friends birthday is. Media is how you know what’s happening in Tehran, who’s in charge in Tegucigalpa, or the price of tea in China. Media is how you know what your colleague named her baby. Media is how know why Kierkegaard disagreed with Hegel.  Media is how you know where your next meeting is. Media is how you know about anything more than ten yards away.

I’m getting a lot from Clay’s book. He describes our emerging world in a way that helps me understand the social changes that are unfolding as we share our stories on the social web.

Brent Uncategorized