Friday, August 26, 2011

Social implications of Social Media

Social Media is a medium for social interaction. User driven content. Wide accessibility. Interactive dialogue. All you need is an internet connection. A variety of devices are used from an ordinary PC/Mac, iPhone/Android/Blackberry type smartphone, to tablets. A variety of applications are used like internet forums, blogs (like Bloggers, Word Press), podcasting, micro-blogging (as in the Twitter variety) and social networking sites (like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Google Plus).

The power of social media is undeniable; impacting society in positive as well as negative ways. Social media is hard to contain or control. By virtue of this, it is virtually impossible to contain and restrict flow of information. This can be both a good and a bad thing. Importantly breaking news around the world is reported more often than not via social media even before exclusives are scooped by News corporations.

The 2009 Iran Presidential elections was an interesting case resulting in what many call Iran’s Twitter revolution. It was said that the Iran government restricted dissident information from spreading by blocking sites and text messages from within the country. While officials were busy closing down access, hackers were publishing proxy portal details for the internet savvy citizens of Iran. Some complained about the lack of coverage western news media outlets devoted to the election results. Others were disgusted that these western outlets did not question the legitimacy of the election results. All of them chose to vent their feelings micro-blogging on Twitter. One thing was clear, short of suspending internet for an entire country, information could not be withheld or blocked. This was widely commented on as good by the global community.

In the recent London rioting (6th – 10th August 2011) it generated mixed feelings. The same social media was used by a bunch of miscreants to telling effects. Newspapers reported how rioters used Blackberry messenger and incited each other to loot High Street stores. Twitter was used to lash out at everyone, the government, the police, the rich people who had it all etc. At the same time, journalists and photographers were attacked by the rioters while real time updates were being made by ordinary citizens informing a shell shocked nation of the atrocities in their vicinity. The police reportedly used some of this to track down the rioters.

Social media has been used elsewhere across the world to organize protests, to even organize civil disobedience. In June 2011, dozens of women drove cars in Saudi Arabia, a country were women can’t drive by law. An appeal was made on Facebook for women in possession of valid driving licenses from other countries to drive on the 17th of June.

In Egypt, a Facebook page was created titled “We are all Khaled Said” referring to an Egyptian business beaten to death by police after threatening to expose corruption. The page called for a day of wrath on 25th January 2011 and thousands filled the streets protesting. It was the prelude to 4 months of protests that brought down Hosni Mubarak. In days to come, the government’s response was unprecedented, to try and shutdown the country’s internet. The shutdown involved withdrawal of more than 3500 Border Gateway Protocol routes by Egyptian ISPs. It exceed the actions taken by Iran, China, Syria and Tunisia who have blocked/restricted access to social networks during times of protest. In United Kingdom, there have been discussions about suspending access to social networks during situations similar to their London riots.

These networking tools were used in India too during the Jan Lok Pal bill crusade by Anna Hazare protesting against rampant corruption among India’s bureaucracy as well as its political representation. Twitter accounts lambasted the government for infringing on the rights of an individual when the police preemptively arrested Anna. Facebook pages and websites were setup in support of the anti corruption crusade.

Events on the last 2 years will force the governments from around the world to formulate policies that will thwart social media in extreme situations requiring containment rather than spread of information. They will come up with the excuses of mobocracy and civil unrest to block such access. The less democratic the governments are the less they will be answerable for such actions.


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