Power in Groups

I.

I can’t stop wondering why certain pieces of art are well-known around the globe, and others aren’t. Especially those vague paintings that make no sense (to me at least). The reason is that an enormous number of people, at a certain period of time, have agreed that these paintings are good. Think about it, if I consider a drawing beautiful, it means nothing, but if millions of people consider it beautiful, then, for all intents and purposes, it is great art. And the irony is that subsequent works buy the same artist will have a much easier path to success.

Facebook: Why did it succeed over other social networking tools like Hi5, Myspace, and many others? Ultimately,  it all boils down to the masses. Of course, such mass appeal has its causes and preconditions, but even then, many sites attain those preconditions and never succeed. And again, subsequent success is much easier, the first million users tell their friends, and then these new users also spread the word, and the numbers grow exponentially. Success brings further success.

The question then, is can we use this idea to consciously promote Jordanian and Arab businesses (Ikbis coming to mind)? Can you imagine the power 300 million Arabs can potentially have?

II.

Now on a smaller and more realistic scale…

Benjamin Franklin (at age 21 nonetheless) created a group of hand-picked individuals called the Junto. This group met regularly to discuss ideas regarding philosophy, wealth, and improvement. What I really is the organization employed by Franklin, there was a series of questions that he devised which guided the discussions. And the best thing, is that they came out with practical ideas, the first library, first public hospital, police departments, and many others.

This seems like an idea that could be implemented. Of course, we have the benefit of internet forums which may be a suitable (if full of potential crap) alternative. But still, live meetings, that’s powerful! Is anyone interested?