In the current THES is a comment article on the use of social media in politics - this seems to happen mainly in non-Western countries, for whatever reasons. Maybe lack of trust in traditional broadcasting media? Would Twitter be more relevant in the UK if the BBC didn't exist? Or are people using Twitter but it is just not reported as journalists don't notice it? With the more limited and controlled flow of information coming out of other countries one has to look out for alternative sources.
And the interesting bit is at the end of the article: a call by a professor from Delhi to study social media in university seminars, rather than just films and literature. Good to know we're early adopters in HtB!
I think that this is definitely true to some degree. For instance, in Tunisia earlier this year. Despite the strict cyber-censorship imposed upon them, the country's activist bloggers played a key role in bringing to light the brutality and corruption of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's(former president) regime, which eventually led to his outset and imprisonment.
ReplyDeleteSome of these bloggers even ran in Tunisia's first free elections in October; there was also a link to 'Live Blogging' of the event from main activist blogging site, http://nawaat.org
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