Follow Friday: Clay Shirky

Photo by Joi from Flickr used under Creative Commons

I’ve been staycationing this week, in case you were wondering why it’s been quiet here.

It’s Friday, so I thought I’d extend a Twitter tradition and do a follow Friday of my own, in longer format.

At SXSW in March, Paul and I both attended Clay Shirky’s keynote, “Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature and Digital Data,” and I’m sure we both have that session in our personal top three highlights of the conference.

I noticed today that the audio is available now, in the right-hand column under Media. Unfortunately, it’s not embeddable, so when you have an hour free, definitely head over and listen to Clay’s keynote. Or do it now.

If you’re a longtime reader, with a good memory, you’ll recall I recommended paying attention to Clay several years ago after I first saw him at Web 2.0 Expo in 2008.

I actually sat next to him in a session before I knew who he was, much to Rich’s chagrin. Had that happened after, it would have been on of those fanboi moments that never end well.

You probably have a list of people you’ll always pay attention to, kind of like that list of actors you’ll always watch in a movie, regardless of how bad it looks. Clay Shirky is on that list for me.

Why? Aside from being really smart, he has a very humorous and anecdotal way of making his points. He keeps you interested and makes you feel smarter for understanding what he’s saying.

Anyway, if you don’t already, read Clay’s blog, which is full of awesome insight like this piece on the collapse of complex business models. He doesn’t post often, but when he does, it’s gold.

Also, follow him on Twitter (@cshirky). He shares stuff like this frightening look at how Facebook’s privacy policy has eroded over the years.

That’s my follow Friday. Enjoy.