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schwarmgiven's review against another edition
2.0
Picked this up mostly because of the title which is great. very punk rock.
The book is a boring sociological review of recent political actions--the author fails to bring any meaningful technical discussion to the table--it is like listening to your grandmother read Reddit.
there is lots of stuff on turkey, which I had not heard, and some cleaver middle east reflection, but that is mostly overshadowed by the Tufekci sense of self importance...For example, the author honestly believes and mentions many times that the catholic church invented the printing press to publish indulgences, reviews the Facebook vs. twitter real name issue for 50 pages, and in general provides TED Talk ready commentary on current events...it is hard to read.
the book is most interesting when trying to criticize stuff like the tea party because the author's pretense of objectivity fails away in surprising ways...
The book is a boring sociological review of recent political actions--the author fails to bring any meaningful technical discussion to the table--it is like listening to your grandmother read Reddit.
there is lots of stuff on turkey, which I had not heard, and some cleaver middle east reflection, but that is mostly overshadowed by the Tufekci sense of self importance...For example, the author honestly believes and mentions many times that the catholic church invented the printing press to publish indulgences, reviews the Facebook vs. twitter real name issue for 50 pages, and in general provides TED Talk ready commentary on current events...it is hard to read.
the book is most interesting when trying to criticize stuff like the tea party because the author's pretense of objectivity fails away in surprising ways...
deeparcher's review against another edition
3.0
This book made some interesting points about how the technologies we use to connect and protest also facilitate these movements dissolving or being squashed.
yu01101111's review against another edition
5.0
Made me cry so much! I think some parts dragged on a bit in the end but what a prescient book for our time. When so much of activist/leftist writing feels dated, this one gets it. This one is living it right now.
freshmowngrass's review against another edition
5.0
A thorough, rigorous, and entirely fascinating study of the modern protest movement and how the development of social media has impacted upon it.
deblina's review
slow-paced
0.5
Criminally overrated, and such a slog to finish. I can't even see this being insightful in 2017 when just putting the word "Twitter" in print was enough to become a NYT bestseller.
Part of the reason might be an uncertain audience? There are recap-y bits that feel like they're for academics, and anecdotes that feel like they might be part of a blog post or something. You also just can't do anecdotes in sociology unless the point is so so clear. The milk just can't get any more skim in this discipline.
Honestly impressive to have written 275 pages without a single novel or compelling insight, but half a star for the interesting crumbs (and they are truly crumbs), namely Aristotelian four cause theory.
Part of the reason might be an uncertain audience? There are recap-y bits that feel like they're for academics, and anecdotes that feel like they might be part of a blog post or something. You also just can't do anecdotes in sociology unless the point is so so clear. The milk just can't get any more skim in this discipline.
Honestly impressive to have written 275 pages without a single novel or compelling insight, but half a star for the interesting crumbs (and they are truly crumbs), namely Aristotelian four cause theory.
benrogerswpg's review
4.0
This was a great book on activism and social media.
A pretty important read.
Timely too (have you read the news lately).
Would recommend.
4.1/5
A pretty important read.
Timely too (have you read the news lately).
Would recommend.
4.1/5
lilacashes's review
5.0
Zeynep Tufekci is one of my absolute favorite people on Twitter for her ability to concisely but in a deep and nuanced way explain political dynamics, especially those having to do with technology, social media and AI. I had big expectations for this book and I was not disappointed. It can and should be used as the standard textbook on protests and digitalization for... the next few months?
Honestly, things are moving so fast now that parts of the book seem to be be, sadly, missing. Zeynep refers to that in the text, when she mentions she had to rewrite the last chapter due to being stuck in the Turkish coup of 2016, an event fueled to a large degree by social media dynamics. She mentions the 2016 US election just in passing, an event whose interplay with social media and protest culture could fill an entire book by itself. I suppose at some point she just had to finish the book and stop adding to its material. After all, while writing about her personal experiences energizes the book and makes it more palatable, her goal as a sociologist is to identify the larger patterns in the power struggle between ruling elites and countermovements.
There are many, many things to learn from this book. If I have to identify the one I found most important it would be this: it is not enough, as a movement, to mobilize people for your goals. You also have to organize them, to be able to make decisions, and there is no shortcut to that.
Other than that, of course there were many things I learned about protest movements from somebody who has not only had decades of experience as a dissident, but also deep structural insight into both social (as a sociologist) and technological (as a programmer) dynamics. Even if a year after its publication I already wish the latest developments had been included, I 100% recommend reading this book, and also following @zeynep on Twitter.
Honestly, things are moving so fast now that parts of the book seem to be be, sadly, missing. Zeynep refers to that in the text, when she mentions she had to rewrite the last chapter due to being stuck in the Turkish coup of 2016, an event fueled to a large degree by social media dynamics. She mentions the 2016 US election just in passing, an event whose interplay with social media and protest culture could fill an entire book by itself. I suppose at some point she just had to finish the book and stop adding to its material. After all, while writing about her personal experiences energizes the book and makes it more palatable, her goal as a sociologist is to identify the larger patterns in the power struggle between ruling elites and countermovements.
There are many, many things to learn from this book. If I have to identify the one I found most important it would be this: it is not enough, as a movement, to mobilize people for your goals. You also have to organize them, to be able to make decisions, and there is no shortcut to that.
Other than that, of course there were many things I learned about protest movements from somebody who has not only had decades of experience as a dissident, but also deep structural insight into both social (as a sociologist) and technological (as a programmer) dynamics. Even if a year after its publication I already wish the latest developments had been included, I 100% recommend reading this book, and also following @zeynep on Twitter.
rumbledethumps's review
2.0
A very interesting subject treated in a very uninteresting way. The author lurches between personal memoir, third-person history, and academic treatise in ways that are jarring and sometimes burdensome to follow.
This might be one of the first book-length treatments of social media and revolution, but it won’t be the last. And it will probably be heavily referenced by the book that eventually tells the definitive history of the subject.
This might be one of the first book-length treatments of social media and revolution, but it won’t be the last. And it will probably be heavily referenced by the book that eventually tells the definitive history of the subject.