There's a common thing I hear about Twitter, and that's this: "What's the point; Why bother?" I don't fully get it myself, but I know people who do, and I respect them, so I'm interested. In this TED talk, Clay Shirky talks about social media and microblogging and texting and the current apotheosis of these techniques, Twitter. This was recorded last month, in May, before the thing in Iran.
On the other hand, I have been using Twitter to detail imaginary conversations with magic spirit animals in order to cure my cold. So, you know.
1 comment:
Great TED talk.
I've been wondering what China's leaders think of the Iranian uprising. What lessons are they learning?
Faced with mass demonstrations today, Bejing would probably just shut down Twitter and Youtube. I wonder if it perhaps would try to spread false information on Twitter to try to confuse dissidents. But I think there's a possibility they might become just as powerless as the Iranian regime is now. They can't confiscate everyone's cell phone camera!
Already, despite China's repressive ways, bloggers there are affecting how the government treats people. Here's an incredible story about how bloggers rallied around a young woman who stabbed a Communist Party official in self-defense. They prevented her from going to jail.
I'm also very curious how the Iranian demonstrations are being reported by the official Chinese media. I unfortunately haven't seen any reports on this. Please let me know if you have!
I'm truly excited about what our evolving media technology is allowing people to do. It's incredible.
A reader sent this comentary to my favorite blogger Andrew Sullivan:
"Twitter revolution in a nutshell: Anne Frank's diary. Live. Multiplied by millions."
And if Clay Shirky is correct that organizations will no longer find it valuable to send one message to everyone _ please let that mean we will no longer have political ads on television!!!
That would not only spare us from inane commercials. It would make running a campaign much cheaper, reducing the need for politicans to raise zillions of dollars. Ultimately, it may diminish the importance of people, groups, and lobbyists who make large campaign donations.
When campaigns are cheaper to run, The barriers to entry for challengers would fall.
Incumbants would more be more vulnerable, and maybe our democracy would become more vibrant.
What a nice thought.
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