The state of Veracruz in Mexico wants to change its penal code to apply a lower charge against the jailed Twitter and Facebook users accused of terrorism for spreading unconfirmed rumors of an attack on local schools (link in Spanish).
A proposed change in Veracruz's laws would permit the government to punish the two social-networking users now behind bars, but for a lesser offense of "disruption of public order," rather than the original charges of terrorism and sabotage. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Africans are active participants in the social media industry, here are a few examples:
Motribe - This South African company enables you to create your own mobile social network with speed and ease and offers you great social tools to power your mobile social network
MXit - A South Africa-based mobile social network. Over 27 million registered users, adding over 40,000 every day. Check out this cool infographic about MXit
Adloopz - An innovative Nigerian startup that puts a social twist to advertising on the internet
Personera - Personera lets you create custom artifacts from your content on social networking sites like Facebook
Nikohapa - A Kenyan startup that offers Foursquare-like checkins made simple and that reward you with discounts for checking in to partner stores
Ushahidi - Crowdsources information using multiple channels including social networking platforms like Twitter
Swift River - An Ushahidi project that adds super data processing to data coming from sources of unstructured information such as a Twitter feed
Zoopy - Another South African company that focuses on mobile video
ForgetMeNot Africa: bridges the huge gap between the internet and mobile messaging worlds allowing any mobile phone to send and receive email and chat message on any carriers network.
Quirk eMarketing - A digital marketing agency that also helps companies make use of social media for great results. Quirk has also spawned other cool companies in social media such as BrandsEye that creates great tools for online reputation management and crowdsourcing company IdeaBounty.
And as far as group buying is concerned, Groupon has inspired many an African groupon clone. There are numerous African companies playing in this area - Rupu and Zetu in Kenya, DealDey in Nigeria, and a whole lot of others in South Africa
Cracks are appearing in the case against the Twitter users in Mexico accused of terrorism for spreading rumors of an attack.
Local reports and claims suggest that the "panic" that spread over rumors of child abductions at school campuses started at least two hours before the online messages that could put a man and woman behind bars for 30 years.
Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola, a well-known 57-year-old Mexican journalist and radio commentator, is currently sitting in a Coatepec jail along with 47-year-old math teacher Gilberto Martinez Vera. Their alleged crime? Tweeting incorrect information about potential August 25 school terrorist attacks in the Veracruz area that authorities claim were the trigger for mass hysteria and several dozen car accidents.
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter have played a major role in motivating some of the demonstrators in the run-up to the rally, which went ahead despite a police ban and lockdown imposed on sprawling Kuala Lumpur on the eve of the July 9 protest.
The demonstration organizer, Bersih 2.0 -- a coalition of 63 NGOs (non-government organizations) that wants changes such as updated electoral rolls and a longer election campaign period -- has its own Facebook page, attracting a similar number of "likes" as the page urging Najib to step down, with 190,000+ fans at the time of this posting.
The latest notable update is another petition, requesting 100,000 backers for a Bersih 3.0 -- although organization head Ambiga Sreenavasan has said she does not foresee any similar protests in the immediate future.
The We Love Wool campaign, with its Facebook and Twitter pages, up to Tuesday this week had more than 14,000 followers since it began on June 1.
Decked out in his grey wool sweater, Adrian is among more than 70 woollen garment wearers who have clicked on www.fashionbyfeelings.com to upload his "look" as part of a competition to win Sydney airfares, accommodation, a $3000 gift card and other prizes.