The Point began as a simple observation: — if the majority disagreed with a rule, and they all took action to change it, that rule would be impossible to enforce. The Point is the result of that observation being made post the social networking revolution, which laid the groundwork for this once fanciful notion to become reality.

Community being integral to The Point, we have all the interpersonal features you would expect: add contacts, keep track of what they’re up to, send them messages, customize your profile, etc. Something like The Point would have been inconceivable before social networking broke.

But we are different from traditional social networks. Community isn’t “the point” — rather, as the clear tool for solving problems that are too big to solve alone, it’s a means to an end.

Users of The Point may choose to waive the social experience completely. Simply join a campaign, wait for notice that it has tipped, and take action, knowing that the conditions exist for you to make a difference. It’s possible to derive value from The Point without interacting with other people at all. In this sense, community becomes a background process — an unremarkable assumption of the tipping action model — like an “invisible hand” channeling self-interest into coordinated, mutually beneficial action.

This speaks to the variety of ways we can engage The Point. Most will use it socially, but those who are skeptical of cyber-relations will still enjoy The Point without them.

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