Gerald Allen

October 15, 2015

Mass Amateurization

            Ever since the advent of the social media websites in the early part of this century, people’s private interactions have been increasingly made public. At some point in time someone had an idea to use this form of free publicity to promote themselves or their interests. Writer Clay Shirky discusses the idea of “mass amateurization” in his book Here Comes Everybody and how the internet has affected our lives. Nowadays anyone can be a journalist with the help of social media and Shirky discusses this shift in the chapters “Publish, Then Filter” and “Everyone Is a Media Outlet” in his book.

            Chapter 3, “Everyone Is a Media Outlet” delves into the origins and rationales of what Shirky calls mass amateurization, which is the ongoing phenomenon of literally anyone reporting news events. Sometimes these news reports are well-thought out and very informative but other times they are rushed and sloppily produced. This is all possible because journalism is a field that does not require a person to have a degree or be a part of any formal society in order to publish stories. However, journalism is indeed a profession and is treated as such by professional journalists. “As the UCLA sociologist James Q. Wilson put it in his magisterial Bureaucracy, ‘A professional is someone who receives important occupational rewards from a reference group whose membership is limited to people who have undergone specialized formal education and have accepted a group-defined code of proper conduct’” (Shirky 58). This quote sums up the old way of thinking about the journalism profession. Even though there are thousands of journalists who seek approval and praise from other members of their field, a lot of amateur journalists are not reporting stories with winning the Pulitzer in mind. Instead, they are writing stories for the sake of spreading information that the public may need to know.

Person tweeting about the plane that landed in the Hudson River.

             A lot of amateur “journalism” can be found on literally any social media website. However, Tumblr, the social networking website that allows users to create blogs that cater to a number of different interests, has a huge amount of users that participate in this new form of journalism. One particular blog called ‘Your Fave Is Problematic’ is a simple blog that aims to reveal ugly truths about celebrities. The blog posters list different celebrities that they deem ‘problematic’ and post articles found online that prove their point. This form of ‘journalism’ is not going to win the blog posters any prizes from other journalists, however, it illustrates Shirky’s point perfectly. In fact, Shirky says that “an individual with a camera or a keyboard is now a non-profit or, and self-publishing is now the normal case” (Shirky 77). Although ‘Your Fave Is Problematic’ is not the pinnacle of journalistic excellence, it is still a form of semi-investigative journalism and people have/do read it regularly.

Natural haired women have formed a community on social media.

            In Chapter 4 of Here Comes Everybody entitled “Publish, Then Filter,” Shirky discusses the idea as society has become increasingly obsessed with social media, our personal interactions with people have been made public. The internet has changed the way people communicate with each other. And it is our job as media consumers to distinguish between material that is relevant and material that is not. Today, we are fortunate to have different methods of filtering information that we may find useful. For example, on Twitter, the social media website that allows users to send and read 140-character messages called tweet. Much like Tumblr, there is literally a Twitter page for any interest. On Twitter users can filter what they view on their timeline by who they follow; if someone is interested in technology they can follow CNET’s page or if they are interested in sports they can follow the NBA’s page. Or they can search hashtags, which is a way of filtering specific information into one collective feed.

One of the amazing things about social media is that they is something for everybody. Shirky states that “the activities of the amateur creators are self-reinforcing. If people can share their work in an environment where they can also converse with one another, they will begin talking about the things they have shared” (Shirky 99). The act of filtering information can actually create connections for people who have similar interests. Communities are built and sustained through a common interest so that even though people are physically far apart, they can still form long-lasting bonds via social media.

We live in an ever-changing world and new forms of technology are always appearing. In the last decade, technology has improved so much that we are able to utilize it in ways never thought possible at first. Shirky makes an excellent observation about the future of technology and how we are going to adapt with it towards the end of the chapter. “The invention of a tool doesn’t create change; it has to have been around long enough that most of society is using it. It’s when a technology becomes normal, then ubiquitous, and finally so pervasive as to be invisible, that the really profound changes happen, and for young people today, our new social tools have passed normal and are heading to ubiquitous, and invisible is coming” (Shirky 105).

Works Cited

Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.