"Powering the Edges"

In the Connected Age, more people can participate more easily in more meaningful ways than ever before... Participants choose to take action to further the cause - whether it is organizing a local house party, writing to the local paper, passing along an e-mail to family and friends - without being asked. These are examples of pushing power to the edges: actions and decisions are made outside the inner circle by a broadening number of participants. Powering the edges means moving from top-down messages to side-to-side conversations, from committees to communities, from institutions to people. By building wide and sturdy bases of enthusiasm and support in this way, we make lasting change sustainable. Powering the edges makes more sense than trying to balance an entire movement on the top of a pyramid and hoping that everyone else comes along. As Pierre Omidyar, the found of eBay states, "There's a fundamental shift in power happening."

Allison H. Fine, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
p. 88