Compare and Contrast

The two presentations given by Clay Shirky and Seth Godin focus on one main point, the internet. In order to compare and contrast both presentations, we must first understand what these two men are saying in general. Shirky focuses on how communication has evolved over the centuries, and with it, so have we as a people. So much in fact, that the technological norm as we knew it has changed. A stereotype has been disproven. The main example was how the United States borrowed technology from Nigeria for election purposes. No longer does the tech pass from the "developing world" to the "developed world."

Shirky also explains that the internet is the only form of mass media that connects groups to groups, rather than group to singular, or vice versa. Here's the first main similarity between the two videos. Shirky tells us that the internet is the fastest growing way to connect mass numbers of people, and link their ideas together. That very true claim is one of the main points in Godin's presentation. Godin says that the internet is the best, most efficient way to link groups of people with similar ideas--who he calls "tribes"--and provides these people with a means to band together and bring about change for something they believe in. Both men describe the internet as a way of bringing about some form of change. The slight difference is what type. Shirky uses the 2008 presidential election as an example. Godin goes a bit broader. Godin explains that any type of change can be brought about as long as people are united. But the main idea here is that to bring about change, people must be united, and their ideas must be transferred back and forth rapidly between one another. The internet is the bridge upon which these ideas travel to and from the ends of the world to every single member of that group, or "tribe."

The differences in the speech aren't necessarily important in order to grasp the main message both are trying to inspire the listeners with. The differences include a host of political facts regarding China and the United States (Shirky), and information on different types of tribes and how these tribes can put their ideas into motion the most efficiently (Godin).