The Social Organism: A Radical Understanding of Social Media to Transform Your Business and Life - Softcover

Luckett, Oliver; Casey, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316431214 ISBN 13: 9780316431217

Publisher: Hachette Books, 2016

Synopsis

Social media sits at the core of twenty-first century society. It topples dictators, ends racist traditions, and ushers in overnight fame to living room performers. But how does it actually work? To understand and best use social media, argue Oliver Luckett and Michael J. Casey, people must first look to nature and the inner workings of living organisms.

Social media-dismissed as trivial by some, chaotic by others-represents the zenith of humans' evolution as social beings. Though it profoundly influences our systems, policies, and culture, few people really understand how social media functions. In their provocative forthcoming book THE SOCIAL ORGANISM, Luckett and Casey show how social networks take on a life form of their own-forms that, to an astonishing degree, mimic the characteristics of biological life itself. By looking at the behavior of cells, metabolic pathways, biochemical reactions, viruses, and holonic structures, we can understand social media, how to employ it, and its potential impact on our world.

Unlike previous communication technologies, the interconnected yet wildly disparate users of social media (the cells of the Social Organism) are both the content creators and the distribution network. Memes are the Organism's genes and they reproduce, spread, and evolve just as biological life does. The Social Organism is the collective brain of our future, shaping policy and culture, and fostering innovation at a speed and level as never before possible. But it is up to us as individuals to nourish this organic network with positive content, and as a society to encourage its use as a force for good.

In easy-to-understand yet powerful language, Luckett and Casey describe how social media lives and breathes. THE SOCIAL ORGANISM is a groundbreaking idea book that will change our understanding of how social media-and human life-works in the twenty-first century.

About this title

Review:

"If anyone can help us understand this digitally connected world, it's [Luckett and Casey]--and they don't disappoint.... The book offers a deeply informed and nuanced portrait of the social-media landscape, supported by numerous examples.....This is an overarching theory of social media, spanning disciplines from biology to anthropology to business to computer science... Compelling."--Booklist

"Social media is the most obvious recent way that human life is being forever changed by technology. This book's brilliant unifying metaphor, the Social Organism (which is the converse of my mentor Marvin Minsky's book Society of Mind) illuminates how the ground is shifting beneath our feet. As Luckett and Casey conclude, social media will begin to act more and more like a global brain. The implications for our way of life, our governments, and our businesses are immense. I cannot recommend this book enough."--Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author, and futurist

"The Social Organism's exploration of social media goes far beyond a recipe for clicks and 'likes' and presents a deeply convincing theory of how life is changing in the digital age, and how you can use social media not only to transform your business but to help change the world."--Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sleep Revolution

"In less than a decade, social media has gone from fringe to mainstream. In the next decade, it will reorder the ways people communicate, work together, trade, and pursue ideas. Luckett and Casey have written the quintessential guide to understanding our social future."--Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner, Andreessen Horowitz

"When I started my first business in 1992, there was no social media. Today, no successful business is launched without a social strategy. This book is the best guide out there. Want to build a brand or a cause? Start by reading this."--Daymond John, CEO of FUBU, CEO of Shark Branding, Co-Star on ABC's Shark Tank, bestselling author of The Power of Broke

"I saw how humankind can use the Internet to bring about positive change when Oliver Luckett helped register 2 million new voters for the Declare Yourself campaign we initiated in 2004. Since then, social media seems to have delivered such transformative change again and again. In their deeply insightful new book, The Social Organism, Oliver and Michael Casey make sense of it all. Finally, even this ancient clunk of an Internet user has some sense of what it's all about and where we're heading."--Norman Lear

"Social media and its complexity may appear to be disordered chaos, but, using a natural and biological lens, The Social Organism helps us make sense of this powerful new system. Important reading for anyone trying to understand the world."--Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab and Co-Author of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future

"As individuals, we are the authors of our own thoughts. But, social media has triggered emergence. The sum of our public thoughts has become greater than the whole--a new life has manifested. The Social Organism brings context and perspective to this, our hyperconnected ecosystem."--Biz Stone, Co-Founder, Twitter, Medium, and Jelly; author of Things a Little Bird Told Me

"The Social Organism is a remarkable hybrid: a riveting history of mass media, a convincing guide to the landscape of digital platforms, and an indispensable window into our future world. It's a must-read for business leaders and anyone who wants to understand all the implications of a social world."--Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company

Book Description:

From "tech mogul" (L.A. Times) Oliver Luckett and MIT Media Lab's Michael Casey, a groundbreaking book that illuminates how social media functions on a global scale, how human culture is evolving with it, and how we can master digital content for good and for profit.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0316431214
• ISBN 13: 9780316431217
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320