Internet good at connecting people for a cause, not so good at building movements

Seattle WTO protests¶

There is no question that the communication culture that reigns on the Net is better at speed and volume than at synthesis. It is capable of getting tens of thousands of people to meet on the same street corner, placards in hand, but is far less adept at helping those same people to agree on what they are really asking for before they get to the barricades—or after they leave.

— fences-and-windows

Arab Spring¶

A Journalist of the Plague Year: - Montgomery Bus Boycott: movement building via carpooling to work together even through the bus boycott. - Before: "big march" is outcome of movement and connection building. Now: start a hashtag on Twitter or go viral on Facebook, "big march" is the first step, without having flexed muscles of organising, negotiating, etc. together. "Growth hacking" without a strong base.