New Group No Manager

If managers aren’t important anymore towards the formation or control of groups using online tools, what do you consider the main role websites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, or MySpace have provided newly emerging groups?

These social networking sites have provided a platform for new groups to communicate and organize. There is not necessarily any sort of hierarchical staff that control the direction or focus of the group as a whole. These sites allow for things to get done and for people to share ideas for the group. The sites also allow the groups to expand. There are ways to invite others to join your cause or participate in the activities that the organization is working on. Groups can grow and be productive with no oversight, as in the example in chapter one of Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody. When Ivanna lost her phone, her friend, Evan, created an organization that turned out quite productive. He created a website and hundreds of people came together to find the phone, and eventually got it returned. This organization had many people participating and watching the event unfold, but without supervision. One man made the site and many people then took the initiative to work together as one almost unknowingly to form a community with a common purpose.
So as websites, the only role these sites serve is to provide space, people will do the rest. They have changed to world of organization. Without these sites many groups could not exist. The sites give a voice to small causes and ideas that would not be lucrative to a corporation. There are not many, if any, companies that would be willing to search a city for one lost phone. It would cost too much money and require too many resources, with little to gain. However, with a platform like Facebook, meetup, and Myspace, groups can be created for a simple purpose at a low cost. If the site then becomes linked with another site even more people will see the organization and possibly contribute. This trend may continue and the organization could grow and become very effective; as seen in Ivanna's phone example.

Source:
Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky, Chapter 1