Write a blog post that makes connections between some of the ideas discussed in this documentary and the social media, participatory readings. The expected word length is around 500-750 words.

The ‘Us Now’ documentary discusses the rise of online communities that have formed with the purpose of helping other people, and bringing up the future possibility of the public having a participatory involvement in public service and government policies.

The documentary discusses different case studies of participatory online communities set up to help people. People are finding that they can receive more advice online in public forums by their peers rather than having to seek ‘good’ advice from one trusted person. An example of this is ‘Mumsnet’ which is a forum of mums who give advice to one another; demonstrating that people are putting more faith in different types of professionals than ever before. People are putting more trust in one another, sometimes even more so than in professionals or organisations. James Surowiecki (as mentioned in Hinton & Hjorth) discusses this idea that a large group of people can solve problems that individuals can’t (2004).

The documentary describes the democratic nature of the internet and the possibility that governments and public service offices can learn from online communities and create a more democratic real-life society. The online forums and communities are self-policed and are surprisingly quite safe as demonstrated through ‘couch surfing’. Habermas’ ideas (as mentioned in Hinton & Hjorth) of the internet as a public sphere and a marketplace of ideas is demonstrated here; debating that the internet is a democratic force. This democratic use and community building makes people feel empowered as they don’t need to consult professionals as they did in the past and can have their voice heard. The participatory nature of the internet has allowed once ‘passive’ audiences become ‘active users’ changing the way in which they engage with products and services (Lister 2009).

The main motivation for people to become involved in these online communities is the concept of the gift economy; the cost of you helping someone is low and you receive a lot of help in return. People network with another to assist each other, in the hope that someone will return the favour. This new approach to people treats them as competent individuals in comparison to society constantly telling them they are incompetent. Hinton & Hjorth discuss the way in which people have organised themselves for a cause or social issue to do good to other people. While the cases mentioned in the documentary are more localized and specific causes, they demonstrate the power of people and the possibility that this could be implemented in government.

Businesses and organisations are now having to adapt to this new empowered media audience; engaging in better and constant feedback and change to their products and services (Lister 2009). As mentioned in the documentary, those who don’t accept this change will lose their audience. This is also discussed in the context of the government which depends on passive audiences having to adopt their policies. The government feels threatened by the power of groups of individuals who can organise themselves to change things for the better. The Ebbsfleet Football Team is an example described in the documentary that gives their club fans the ability to choose the players in the team; the final decision is given to the Head Coach and has been a positive system.