External Forces of Smart Mobs

The journal article “Smart Mobs” by Howard Rheingold examines the transforming power of collective intellect and behavior of people derived from digital networks. In his argument he makes the claim that a conservative individual would not take action on his or her own against the government but only if many others were already committed to action. He furthers his argument in his claim, “mobile media that can augment the informal, mostly unconscious information exchanges that take place within the Interaction Order, or affect the size or location of exchanges, have the potential to change the threshold for collective action (pg. 175).” There are many global news examples of this seen today that support this idea of a threshold for collective action.

The recent democratic revolution in China is just one more example of a “smart mob” coming together collectively via Twitter and blogs to demonstrate against an authoritarian government. Social networking sites have allowed for people to come together as a powerful “force.” As with most political reform, there are always external forces that attempt to put down this force. China has recently arrested pro-democratic activists for their organizing of online mobs. As mentioned in the article, these minority activists triggered action of others to jump on the revolution bandwagon. By monitoring and censoring the Internet as well as arresting those initiating action, China has executed efforts to destroy collective behavior among citizens.

In democratic countries where censorship is not much of an issue (with the exception of controversy over WikiLeaks), there are many efforts on expanding collective community through the Internet. Google had recently announced Kansas City as the first place to get new ultrafast broadband Internet. Faster Internet means an even greater threshold for collective action. Google announced its site for “Fiber for Communities” program will “deliver Internet access more than 100 times faster than the home broadband connections. Smart mobs can be predicted to be even more widespread and effective as the spread of “Fiber for Communities” program is spread. This is another external force that plays a role in the development of smart mobs and their effectiveness.