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Chris Johnson

The limits of the 'Twitter revolution' | Anne Nelson | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk - 3 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...digital-media-egypt

Activism Twitter.Revolution online activism

shared by Chris Johnson on 11 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Chris Johnson on 11 Apr 11
     
    Nelson, A. (2011). The limits of the 'Twitter revolution. The Gaurdian  Retrieved 11th April 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/24/digital-media-egypt   
  • ...3 more comments...
  • alio S on 15 Apr 11
     
    This article by Anne Nelson argues against the idea that Twitter was strongly influential in the recent uprisings in Egypt. She backs up her statement by pointing out that there "were well under 15,000 Egyptians tweeting, out of a population of more than 80 million" and that some of those may not have even been inside Egypt. Her figures were intimated from figures released by Social Media Intelligence company "Sysomos" (O'Dell 2011), who after analysing 52 million Twitter users, Found that only 14,642 identified their location as Egypt, Yemen or Tunisia (O'Dell 2011). The majority of these, however, were identified as originating in Egypt. O'Dell's article points out that even these numbers are suspect as it is likely that a percentage of Twitter users in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen do not provide location information in order to protect their identities (2011). Nelson also remarks on the ineffectiveness of other online tools, for instance a Crisis-mapping application named Ushahidi. While she admires the utility of Ushahida, Nelson is quick to point out that crisis maps, particularly those covering low grade problems are generally not sufficiently supported by volunteers willing to update them. Evgeny Morozov coined the term slacktivism "to describe feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact. It gives those who participate in 'slacktivist' campaigns an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook group" (Morozov 2009). Nelson clearly feels that the majority of online activism falls into this category. REFS: Morozov, E. (2009). The brave new world of slacktivism. Retrieved from: http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism O'Dell, J. (2011). How Egyptians Used Twitte
  • sheila mclean on 15 Apr 11
     
    Anne Nelson's article comes to the conclusion that "the new digital technologies are powerful tools in moments of crisis, but they cannot substitute for sustained citizen activism". (Nelson, 2011) Nelson points out how "in Egypt, there has been a lot of emphasis on Twitter, but the data suggests that there were well under 15,000 Egyptians tweeting, out of a population of more than 80 million". Nelson also makes reference to "slactivism" "where it's easier to click a "like" button on Facebook than it is to participate in a crisis-mapping platform." , and brings up a "notion of citizenship that involves more than one-click participation". I think that Nelson is missing the point here. Egypt may have been labelled the "Twitter Revolution" and the "Facebook Revolution" by the media, but this was not because of citizens and a "one-click participation", instead social media was used very successfully to mobilize citizens, who then faced real dangers when they took their protests to the streets. As Howard (2011) points out, there are dangers in both "overemphasizing and ignoring the role of digital media in political change in Egypt and Tunisia". While Nelson may not have ignored the role of digital media in Egypt, I think she has certainly under-emphasized it in this particular article. REFERENCES: Howard, P (February 23, 2011) The Cascading Effects of the Arab Spring Miller McCune Magazine Retrieved April 13, 2011 from http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/the-cascading-effects-of-the-arab-spring-28575/ Nelson, A. (2011). The limits of the 'Twitter revolution. The Guardian Retrieved April 14 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/24/digital-media-egypt
  • tim findlay on 16 Apr 11
     
    I agree Sheila, many of these articles seem to be missing the point, there seems to be a real criticism towards the effects that social media has had on the protests in Egypt. I keep hearing statements like "Social media is not a substitute for individual action" (Nelson, 2011). Many of these articles seem to be coming to the conclusion that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are seen as taking the sole responsibility for the events that have been played out in recent months. I have not seen one pro Twitter article that has put the credit directly in the hands of social network platfroms. Many articles in favor of social media state that they do not give absolute credit to Twitter or Facebook in the successfulness of the protests. For example (Morozov, 2009) states that social media does not take credit for all the peoples contribution and determination to be involved in the protests but it still is an extremely useful tool for the collaboration and organization of people on such a large scale, playing an important role in facilitating these protests. Social media is a very successful collaboration tool that is used in conjunction with society to gain results. Social media did play an extremely vital part in the organization and efficiency of these protests that cannot be denied. But it was individual action and determination that aided these people to contribute and gain results. Perhaps it should not be called a "Twitter Revolution", as this is where I think criticism and confusion has come about, the headline does place a biased opinion in favor of Twitter. Regardless of the attitudes towards social medias role in these events, its effectiveness in these matters has shocked the world and demonstrated how powerful it is as a communicative tool.
  • Alan Beazley on 16 Apr 11
     
    Nelson makes a strong argument suggesting the 2011 Egypt uprising was not necessarily fuelled by social media; instead she links it to years of oppression and dictatorship as the main triggers. On the flipside, many of Nelson's statements need to be challenged. Firstly, she states that only 15,000 Egyptians were tweeting - out of a population of 80 million - throughout the protests. What she fails to mention is that less than 20% of Egyptians actually have Internet access (Internet World Stats, 2011). In addition, many of these users also reside outside of Cairo and may not have directly participated in the demonstrations. Lastly, the Internet and SMS services were shutdown in Egypt two days after the initial January 25th demonstration and this act would drastically reduce numbers as the only way to circumvent the block was through dialup or a voice-to-tweet service. An interesting concept raised in this article is 'slackivism', a term coined to describe the attraction of getting caught up in the euphoria of online activism. The benefits however have little or no impact on society because clicking a 'like' button within a Facebook group is far from participatory and adds very little value to the cause. Instead, Nelson argues that web users need to be better educated in the use and the expectations of crisis-mapping platforms to effectively participate. Sukey , an anti-police kettling web application is a recent example of internet enabled, active participation. Its use during a recent political demonstration in London resulted in successful, non-violent outcome (Kingsley, 2011). This was attributed to activists working together and feeding information from Twitter, Google Maps and news feeds into Sukey to counter the act the police kettling. This example highlights that technical aptitude and active participation are required to effectively coordinate a internet enabled, protest. Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. (2011
  • tim findlay on 17 Apr 11
     
    References: Morozov, E. (2009). Moldova's Twitter Revolution. Retrieved April 13, 2011. From http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/07/moldovas_twitter_revolution Nelson, A. (2011). The Limits Of The "Twitter Revolution". Retrieved April, 16 2011. From http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/24/digital-media-egypt
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