Arab Spring
My first question was what is Arab
Spring? I had no clue nor had I heard any information on it. It did take place
a few years ago with some major events taking place. It was shocking to me that
the Egyptian leader had been thrown out of his ruling and many violent protests
broke out.
When I was research the topic and
how it related to social media and the things that we have discussed as a class
I found some interesting information on the topic.
From Washington
University
http://www.washington.edu/news/2011/09/12/new-study-quantifies-use-of-social-media-in-arab-spring/
(Summarized info below)
Through social
media in all aspects it showed the Middle East and Africa the freedom that they
can have through what they had seen and read online, especially Twitter. With
the vast majority of the world not knowing what was going on Twitter helped
connect individuals about the change that needed to be done. When this very
first starting going down there was only about 2300 tweets a day on what was
currently going on. After many years and events escalating tweets rose to
230,000 a day. (I cant even believe that) What an impact that Twitter had on
history. It helped the world follow along on events with people who where
actually there. It connected people around the world and that supported the
change that needed to be done. With things increasing rapidly on Twitter the
link between these and other platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and blogs the
news started to trend across all.
You tube connected 5.5 million
people through videos being viewed. YouTube as we know is not just about
watching videos you can also comment and share information that you had seen.
This is where blogs came into play because individuals that wanted to share
their opinion in depth blogged about the information in detail.
Social media can play such an impact
on current events that are happening right now or in the past. It connects so
many individuals fast and easily. I know that social media was just a portion
of what went on but just think what if there was no Twitter or YouTube to watch
the event taking place. We think that social media is just used for purposes
that connect us with people or events that are only in our area, but it can
connect us to so much more.
On the other hand though does social
media create an online war that creates more problems and violence…? I have
asked myself this because the media projects only the things that they want
their viewers to see, persuading you to their side. We have learned in class
that someone can be taken down so quickly ex. The pizza delivery guy, look how
fast the car company got bashed and how much money was raised in the pizza guy
name. We need to be careful and make sure that we know what is going on by
reading many different news sources to make sure that things are adding. To
often do we read something without jumping to conclusion and making an ass of
our self… To often.
With technology
being as powerful as it is I wanted to briefly describe how this website says
how technology has changed the power in Egypt.
First, Infiltrating the media
elites- news information that is biased persuading an individual one way or
another.
Second, Who needs Internet access-
According to the Egyptians government not all it is there way of shaping and
showing power with the working class.
Third, Linking the street and
digital worlds- to prove what is going on in reality and then projecting it out
for others to see.
Last, We need new tools- they want
new tools to gain more power with social media.
I cant believe that I was unaware of
this major event, people lost their lives and where deprived of their freedom
and rights. I can see both sides to social media and how they are beneficial
and negative in any given situation. Helping others by connecting out through
social media is great but it also causes an online war that can be greater than
the war itself.
Next time you
use social media make sure that you are making a change for the greater good!
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