Can Social Media Save The World?
By Brad Brodigan, July 9th, 2009The past several months have been an incredible demonstration of the power of social media. Not long ago most people viewed social media as a fun way to reconnect with old classmates or maybe find those other unique individuals who share your obscure interests. Not many people would have claimed that social media could change the face of major issues like human rights.
Remember that social media is really just the electronic voice of the populate. It represents the intersection of technology and growing interest in peer to peer conversations.
Recently there have been several events that have thrusted social media into the heart of issues of humanity. While there are a growing number of such examples, there are a couple that were game changers in my mind:
On June 2nd just prior to the anniversary of the uprising in Tiananmen Square, The Chinese Government blocked access to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and more sites. Their attempt to quiet the public discussion of the anniversary kicked off weeks worth of public condemnation of Chinese censorship by citizens from around the globe. During the week of June 2nd, the number of negative social media posts about the Chinese Government increased by more than 1900% from the prior week according to our Biz360 analysis. In May, less than 3% of social media posts about China mentioned censorship. However, during the first two weeks of June, the #1 conversation about China was their attempts to block the internet and social media sites. It represented approximately 58% of all social media conversation about China. While the event was covered for a couple of days on television, millions of people continued to talk about it for weeks via social media. While traditional media was on to other stories, this issue remains at the front of peer to peer conversations around the world.
The Iranian Presidential Elections were unique to that nation’s history. Social Media helped ignite interest from a new generation of passionate voters who were looking for reform. The result was record turn out at the polls. The controversy that followed was not necessarily unique in history, but the reaction was. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens used blogs, message boards, web video, social networking sites and micro-blogs such as Twitter to voice their opposition to the election results. They used social media to organize some of the largest protests in the history of Iran. What amazed me the most was that social media appeared to give the protestors sustained energy that remains active today. Historically, governments like Iran with largely state controlled media have been able to quickly quell voices of opposition. However, social media communication has given the voices of reform in Iran an outlet to continue the debate and their campaign outside of traditional means. The conversation regarding the Iranian Elections remains very active still today. According to our Biz360 analysis, this past Sunday, the number of social media posts/tweets about the Iranian Election was nearly as high as during the peak of the conversation following the June 12th election. People around the world are realizing the power of their voice.
While social media might not actually save the world, it has the potential to change the face of big issues like human rights by giving people the power of being heard. If knowledge is power, then social media has the potential to shift the balance of power towards the populate.
Tags: Chinese censorship, Chinese social media, human rights, Iranian presidential election, Iranian social media, social activisim, social media measurement, social media news
Hi Brad:
The urge to connect with other people – social connection – is nothing new. What is new is the ability to do it across time and space. The internet is the plumbing that lets me find my tribe around the globe. The tools change from time to time (AOL, Friendster, FB, Twitter, etc.) but the pipes are in forever.
This is particularly threatening to those who rely on mass media – such as dictators, despots and mass marketed brands.
No new impulse here – just radically reduced friction.
TO’B
Adding to the negative chatter about China’s internet censorship….
All foreign social media sites are blocked in China following the July 8th riots. Chinese social media sites, however, are running fine, because they are monitored within China and any dodgy message gets removed and the user reminded not to post anything political (obv pro gov statements are fine).
China’s censorship and control is truly frightening. The web 2.0 revolution is leading to a new kind of censorship, I guess. Bloggers are being paid by the government aim to neutralise debates that the authorities don’t like. This is to supposedly balance online opinion.
Social Media will struggle to promote human rights in this kind of climate. It’s not succeeding at the moment in letting people have freedom of speech.