Sharing is a way of life, sharing can change the world. Sharing has little cost, but can bring immeasurable value. The main idea of Clay Shirky’s book is to prove the value of sharing, and thus advocate the spirit of sharing.

    It is said that cognitive surplus is one of the biggest bonuses netizens have given to the Internet practitioners in the new age. As Clay Shirky mentioned in his book, cognitive surplus refers to people who have a surplus of talents and time, they have rich knowledge and at the same time have a strong desire to share with others through the Internet. To a large extent, we can say that it is “cognitive surplus” that makes the great success of the media such as facebook, twitter, and WikiPeadia, as well as the most popular network information interaction and communication platform in China---- microblog.

    It is widely acknowledged that people have the demand for consumption (receiving information), sharing (spreading information), and creation (providing new information).Due to the eight-hour working system, people have an eight-hour free time to do what they want. If so much surplus time can be used fully and completely, it will become the precious wealth of the human society. Therefore, it’s a confusion that how we can make the best use of the free time. Previously, people spent most of their spare time on TV, but nowadays, a great number of those who have received higher education prefer to create and share information through the Internet. It will be a great waste of human talents if we only receive information, while not spread it or create new information. Just like what Shirky has said people are born like interactive, sharing and cooperation, even though spend time and money on it.

    In the book, Shirky says that, “The fusing of means, motive, and opportunity creates our cognitive surplus out of the raw material of accumulated free time. The real change comes from our awareness that this surplus creates unprecedented opportunities, or rather that it creates an unprecedented opportunity for us to create those opportunities for each other”. With the rapid development of science and technology, the Internet is becoming more and more prevalent in our life. We often say that because of the Internet, the world becomes smaller and smaller. It has pulled close the distance between human beings. Nowadays, it is easy for us to get contact with others whenever and wherever; we can get the information about the current affairs of our societies, other places, or even other countries instantly; and we can also sharing our own experience with others conveniently and immediately.

    I’d like to take the interactive tools in China to illustrate the change of our life due to the mass of media. In our daily life, the Internet and cell phone are essential tools for every body, especially for young people. We can chat with our friends through QQ and WeChat; we can share our meaningful experience through Microblog (similar to the twitter) and Renren (similar to the facebook), for instance, we can post our experience or upload photos on it; we can post our comment about what’s going on around us freely on BBS, Baidu post bar and other kinds of online forums; besides, we can also work on charity, or go into politics through Microblog or the official website, etc.

    As for me, I am also interested in watching videos through the Internet, so I always use the online video platform such as Youku, Tudou, Sohu, etc. I can not only watch movies, TV series, and variety shows through them, but also understand what has happened in the society around me, such as somewhere may suffer from floods, storm, or other disasters, or somebody are eager to get help.

    I have learnt many charitable act through Sina micro-blog (the same as facebook), for instance, one of the most well-known charitable foundations in China is the Smile angel Foundation, which is founded by a famous celebrity couple Li Yapeng and Wangfei and designed to help the children with cleft lip and palate born in poor families. As Wang Fei is my favorite star, I pay special attention on her through my Sina micro-blog, so I can know the latest news of the foundation. Besides, other stars like Han Hong, Xie Na, Ma Yili, etc. (as the following pictures show) are all engaged in charity, and expand their influence through internet, TV, and other media, as a result more and more people take part in charitable activities.In addition, I can also learn the daily life or happening of idols, and get to understand some strange affairs in our society. Without the splendid site as movies, all the videos are uploaded by ordinary man, so their experience is showed to me vividly and truly, meanwhile I can share my thoughts in the comments below about what I have watched freely.    

    Consumption, creation and sharing are online activity, while participation, interaction and propulsion is offline activity, if we can make a good combination of the online and offline activity, we will be the real leaders and influencer of the day. Therefore, why not try to record every minute of our life and share it with others.