Facilitating Change

Laura Fitton and the folks at Pistachio consulting have just released a Enterprise Microsharing Tools Comparison report, which compares nineteen applications that companies can use for microsharing inside of companies. You can download it from Scribd.com.

Non-profits and social-change initiatives should look closely at how micro-sharing can work for them, as well as folks interested in knowledge sharing and communications (idea here is to create conversations among a community that you can eavesdrop on and then pull out the good bits to feed back in or broadcast). I’ve already posted on uses of Twitter at the end of my Blogging for Good Governance article. And been thinking about how Identica (an open-source alternative to Twitter) and SMS can be used to create a real-time support network in places with limited connectivity.

Here in Montreal the people in the community that I’m a part of on Twitter and Identica regularly ask each other questions and get quick responses via text. Topics range from the best iPhone plan to new vegetarian recipes. I also like how micro-blogging or micro-sharing is fun — no need to write too much. Less thinking, more flow.

As I write this I think that “micro” is the word of the week. At the new Montreal NetSquared meetup last week (hosted by Station C) Peter Deitz told us about his “micro-philanthropy” project, Social Actions, that makes it easier to share and connect to actions: work, donate, sign, meet.

This is what I love about the web — we can break seemingly insurmountable and complex tasks into fun, manageable pieces and work on them together. We haven’t yet solved the tragedy of the commons, but I see great hope in the “creativity of the commons”.