Social Media

Local dictator giving you the blues?

”There’s an app for that!”

With no more technology than today’s current cell, wireless access, etc., and with
“ONE”
primary social media sources (Twitter,) and
“WITHOUT”
A central figure or party, a long history of civil unrest, nor, any formally established organization, opposition movement, or call to action by religious leadership,
A couple of people came together and said.

HEY ACHMED!

“You know that guy who says he runs our country? You’d never guess what that no good, dictator did.”

“Why? What did he do this time?” said Achmed.

“That jerk had his soldiers come, drag me out of my house, kicked my dog, kicked my butt, and then stole my camel!”

“Really?” “That dictator guy sure is a jerk isn’t he?” responded Achmed.

“Yes he is!” “In fact, ya know what?”

“What’s that?” Asked Achmed

“I’m gonna call up my buddy, and tell him about this guy.” ”My friend does a lot of that internet stuff, and I bet he knows a way to get back at that jerk.” ”Because I’m pretty sure my buddy thinks he’s a jerk too…!”

Long story short;

We recently had a similar course of events occur that not only allowed a few people to vent, but also cause one country so far to be completely overthrown. All while initiating similar events region wide.

I’m pretty sure that most of us thought the end of the world was going to “start” in the Middle East! Never would most of us have thought that it would happen the way it did, much less with the message of peace that came with it! And with a white dove of all things too. (Look down. See that little white dove on Twitters icon? Ironic isn’t it?)

Original post::  http://socialnomicsingularity.wordpress.com/running-blog-2/

Related articles

• Study confirms social media’s revolutionary role in Arab Spring (digitaltrends.com)
• From Arab Spring Into Indian Summer? (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)

A study from the University of Washington shows that social media, like Twitter and Facebook, did, indeed, play a major role in sparking the Arab Spring revolutions that engulfed the Middle East and Northern Africa this year.

Social media really did play an instrumental role in the wave of “Arab Spring revolutions that swept across parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa earlier this year, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Washington sifted through more than 3 million tweets, countless hours of YouTube videos and gigabytes of blogs to find out whether the Internet, and social media services like Twitter and Facebook really played the revolutionary role many claimed they did.

According to the study, online chatter about revolution often began just before actual revolutions took place. And social media also served as an outlet for citizens of the region to tell their stories of revolution, which played an inspirational role for neighboring countries, the study found.

“Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising,” said Philip Howard, a University of Washington communications professor and the study’s leader. “People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom.”

In Egypt, where the Arab Spring blossomed, Howard and his team found that the number of tweets that mentioned revolution in that country exploded from 2,300 per day to more than 230,000 per day. The number of videos, Facebook updates and blog posts about government opposition also rose dramatically.

Because Twitter users can send updates from any mobile phone, Howard says that platform offers the “clearest evidence of where individuals engaging in democratic conversations were located during the revolutions,” since many people in the region do not have standard Internet access, but most do have a cellphone.

The study also found that government efforts to cut off access to Internet and cell phone service likely caused an increase in activism, especially in Egypt where access was shut down for five days before being restored.

“Recent events show us that the public sense of shared grievance and potential for change can develop rapidly,” said Howard. “These dictators for a long time had many political enemies, but they were fragmented. So opponents used social media to identify goals, build solidarity and organize demonstrations.”

More recently, social media helped fuel days of riots in London and elsewhere in the UK. British Prime Minister David Cameron responded by saying that citizens who organize uprisings on social networks should be banned from accessing them — a suggestion that evoked ridicule from the notoriously authoritarian Iranian government. That idea was later discarded  following a meeting between the British government, Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry.