The topics on social media and social networks are numerous. Social and the power of a large group of users cannot be underestimated. There is even a book titled “The Wisdom of the Crowds”, with the sub-title “Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few”. This is a best-seller book published in 2004.

Without going too much into detail, it is important to make an important distinction here. That is the distinction between humans and other social creatures like ants, termites or even meerkats. Humans have a mind of their own, can think for themselves and make decisions based on their thinking. That is, if you agree with the ability of humans to act by reason instead of drifts. Other creatures like ants act purely based on their instincts. Their behaviour is determined by pheromones that are left behind by other ants. It is a way of self-organizing, there is no planning, control or direct communication.

Humans act differently. The majority of us use planning and control to act like we do, not purely drifts and instincts. To go back to the title of the book of Surowiecki, it is very true for social creatures like insects that do not have a mind of their own, but for humans, it is somewhat different. When many people are involved, for example in a large organization, complexity increases. When complexity increases, it is more difficult to make decisions. We cannot refer to this as a wise crowd. I have to admit, Surowiecki acknowledges this, and states key criteria for when we can speak of a ‘wise’ crowd. And these criteria generally refer to the fact that people have a mind of their own, and to diversity as well.

What’s my point? My point is that many people feel that having many people together will automatically result in creative behaviour, innovation, excellent ideas etc. Here’s where planning and control, and a program, play a critical role. Of course, there’s always a chance that this kind of behaviour will spontaneously arise, like when you’re taking a shower or sitting in the train. But the process can be guided by setting a scene that increases the likelihood of these kinds of behaviour to occur. Therefore, social not equals smart, but the question is how to extract ‘smart’ behaviour from a group of social human beings.