The idea of the Twitter Revolution and Arab Spring really fascinates me, simply for the reason why a lot us use social networks site in such a different way. We typically use social media, such as Twitter, as a way to connect with people in a humorous way, or in a way that sheds a light on how interesting we are. And yes, we may use it to show our support for other countries in need by posting articles and such. The term we used in class was "slacktivist," and I think that it perfectly describes the types of users we are for our social networking sites.
Then there is the flip side, which is what this article is talking about, specifically relating to the Arab world, and what they call Arab Spring. It is not surprise to me that something like this has happened due to the amount of technology we have, and also by how much the U.S. is involved in wars across the world. People in the Arab world are using these social networks, and phones in a way that we could never really imagine using them in our everyday world. While their government restricts them for what they can use, people in those countries still risk their lives to show what is going on their country to get the word out to the rest of the world. Posting videos on Twitter to show what is going on gets the mass population over here a closer look as to what is going on, and it on a networking site that we are most familiar with.
Now, whether or not we do anything about it still is up to us, but I believe because of this, we are now more fully aware and more active about our opinions over what is going on. And while the slacktivist nature is still prevalent, it is slowly starting to diminish in my belief.
So my question is, have any of you been affected by the videos you see, and have you wanted to do something about it? Do we just not know what to do about it? What are some of the negative effects of these wars being so public?
I think everyone can admit to falling into this sort of “slacktivity” at one point or another. With the internet being so ingrained in our daily lives, and especially considering it listen often easy to actually contribute help to a cause, its easy to simply “like” a news article about a significant event, or retweet someone else's video of a riot, etc. I think a lot of it truly does boil down to simply not knowing what to do, or a sense that we don't have the personal resources to contribute anything. I don't think there are very substantial negative effects of these videos being accessible; anything of considerable social significance ought to be publicly accessible knowledge. Thanks to technology, we don't have to wait for conventional print news before getting the word out. As we saw in class, it was almost 3-4 months before Time magazine had managed to get out an article on the Arab Spring. There’s not necessarily anything bad to say about getting word of current events sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteI am really happy that even though these countries are going through a tough time, they work so hard in making their true presence come alive by fighting their way to come online. I think in a way I support seeing these violent videos because they bring us the reality that we US citizens don’t always see here. If we are trying to be better in this world I think using social media platforms is a great way in spreading the news and harsh reality. I didn’t really know how vast this Twitter Revolution and Arab Spring was until learning about International Communication this past summer. After seeing the videos, tweets, etc. online, I was so frightened and wanting to make a difference by donating money or spreading the news myself by being a social media activist. Today, I feel that by watching these videos or scrolling through pictures we can definitely reach a wider audience and ask them to aid in the every day battles of these countries. I realize that the government is filtering the Internet so people don’t post about the complicated lives they are living but the idea of the Twitter Revolution and Arab Spring has definitely received world’s attention. I hope those citizens keep trying to bring themselves online so individuals like us can help them in anyway possible.
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