The Dragonfly Effect

Lots of books teach the mechanics of using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Some explain how to use these and other tools to compete in business. But no book addresses one of the biggest desires among 18-34 year olds: how to harness the incredible power of the new social media to make a difference, to do something that really matters. The goal of this book is simple: to help you achieve a singular goal by harnessing social media. To create political change, the way the Obama campaign did. To foster economic justice by making micro-loans easily available, the way Kiva has done. To save the life of a friend diagnosed with cancer. In all these cases, there is a single, measurable goal. You may not have money but you have the energy and focus. And you are wondering how to use social media to achieve your goal-allowing you to do so more quickly, effectively, and powerfully. The Dragonfly Effect is what happens when you coordinate four small activities to produce big results. It's named after the only insect that is able to move in any direction-with tremendous speed and force-when its four wings are working in concert. This book will teach you four key skills, explain how to coordinate them, and show you how to harness them to the social media to achieve disproportionate results. Part I presents the story that led to the Power of Social Technology class at Stanford, showing all four wings of The Dragonfly Effect working together. Part II will teach you each of the four skills. It’s illustrated with examples and includes practical tips from the social technologists who engineered the Obama campaign, the founders of Kiva and eBays World of Good, story-tellers from Pixar and leaders from Facebook, Twitter and Google. Part III is your Dragonfly Toolkit, which will get you started on using all the most important social media tools without having to read a whole book about each of them. Its got Andy’s Cheat Sheets, specifically designed for people who are not at all technically proficient. Linked to this book you’ll find a website where you can find a community of other readers, like you, who will share their experiences, tools, and other resources. It will keep you updated on new ways to use the power of social technology to improve the life of just one individual or cultivate social change.