How social media can make history

In this talk at the State Department, Clay Shirky reviews the history of communication technology revolutions.  He argues that since the Internet is becoming ubiquitous and taken for granted, it is revolutionary.  He feels the Internet is good for both conversation and broadcast and that it will become the carrier for all media.  He also notes that users can both consume and produce content -- talking to broadcasters and more important, to each other.  As always, Shirky illustrates his talk with compelling examples ranging from African election monitoring to coverage of the earthquake in Sichuan Province, China and President Obama's use of the Web.

Watch or download the talk (15m 48s).
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