<br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br><a href="http://technosociology.org/?p=263" target="_blank">http://technosociology.org/?p=263</a><br>
<br>
A debate has been raging on the role social media—especially Facebook and<br>
Twitter— played in the apparently successful uprising in Tunisia. Most of the<br>
discussion seems to be centered around the use of the term “Twitter Revolution.”<br>
<br>
Zeynep:<br>
<br>
"people will be using social media tools as an integral part of politics during<br>
those times that politics takes to the frontstage like uprisings and elections.<br>
Evgeny Morozov’s argument is that these tools are not the best suited for<br>
promoting democracy, especially in authoritarian regimes, because they also<br>
strengthen the surveillance, propaganda and censorship. As I argued in many<br>
places, however, they also strengthen capacity for political action through<br>
multiple means:1- Social media lower barriers to collective action by providing<br>
channels of organization that are intermeshed with mundane social interaction<br>
and thus are harder to censor.<br>
2- Social media can help create a public(ish) sphere in authoritarian regimes,<br>
thereby lowering the problem of society-level prisoner’s dilemma in which<br>
everyone knows that many people are unhappy but the extent to which this is the<br>
case remains hidden as official media is completely censored.<br>
3- Social media helps strengthen communities as it is the antidote to isolating<br>
technologies (like suburbs and like televison) and community strength is key to<br>
political action.<br>
4- Social media seems to have been key allowing the expatriate and exiled<br>
community to mobilize and act as key links between rest of the Arab sphere as<br>
well as Francophone parts of Europe and ultimately the rest of the world<br>
5- Social media can be a key tool for disseminating information during a crisis.<br>
As we saw in the case of Iran, Burma, Moldova, Tunisia and others, the world had<br>
a strong sense of what was happening not because there were many reporters on<br>
the ground covering the events but because thousands of citizens armed with<br>
basic cell phones could record and transmit in real-time the situation on the<br>
ground. Yes, such reports are inevitably chaotic, and yes, the ability to<br>
disseminate information is not a sufficient cause for success, but it is surely<br>
a necessary one.<br>
In that sense, I respect Jillian’s sensitivity to any wording that seems to take<br>
the credit away from the accomplishment of the Tunisian people that came at a<br>
great human cost. However, as a material cause, as a key part of the media and<br>
information substrate in which the events took place, it seems clear to me that<br>
social media was crucial. About 20 percent of Tunisians have Facebook accounts<br>
which remained uncensored throughout the crisis.<br>
I find it hard to believe that the ability to disseminate news, videos, tidbits,<br>
information, links, outside messages that easily, transparently and without<br>
censorship reached one in five persons (and thus their immediate social<br>
networks) within a country that otherwise suffered from heavy censorship was<br>
without a significant impact.<br>
To say that social-media was a key part of the revolution does not necessarily<br>
mean that people used GPS-enabled phones to coordinate demonstrations; that is<br>
simplistic and misses the point in which social media shapes the environment in<br>
general. What it means is that the people acted in a world where they had more<br>
means of expressing themselves to each other and the world, being more assured<br>
that their plight would not be buried by the deep pit of censorship, and a<br>
little more confidence that their extended families, their neighbors, their<br>
fellow citizens were similarly fed up."<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br>
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