Social Media: Changes in the Paths of Revolutions
Our world is constantly on the move. It’s evolving at unimaginable speeds and a major proponent of this rapid transformation was initially social networking sites/apps like Facebook and Twitter. Social media taught us new, and instant, ways to communicate and collaborate through features like feeds, profiles and groups. Their algorithms, like the one discussed by the guest lecturer (accounting for pages liked, movies watched, places visited, and mutual friends), strive to connect people of similar interests. And who could’ve guessed how successful these social media sites would be?
Social technologies have transformed our social networks. With online friendships and groups, there’s an accelerated rate at which relationships develop, information is disseminated, and influence is spread. Additionally, with an average path of 3 links between any two random active Facebook users, the entire structure of knowing people has been transformed — shrunken, condensed, and simplified. Yet, this has given people a sense of empowerment, where people are able to locate like-minded others and mobilize groups, even to the extent of causing revolutions or movements.
For years now, social technology has been used to shape global events and culture. For example: from the Arab Spring to the global Occupy movement, social media has been a platform for revolutions. But now, there’s been a shift away from the apps run by big U.S. corporations — like Facebook and Twitter. Instead, the connected, rallying individuals have moved over to apps such as Telegram, which is the main platform being used amidst Hong Kong’s turbulent protests. As the article outlines “the social networks and even messenger applications run by big U.S. corporations are becoming a secondary tool, and one not used for organizational purposes”. With a decreasing trust in the protection of anonymity on the bigger media platforms, the shift to Telegram — which is reputed for withstanding government attempts at censorship and infiltration — is not unprecedented.
The article above highlights this shift away from Big Tech apps and towards apps such as Signal (the encrypted messenger) and Mattermost (an open-source alternative for Slack) to name a few. Yet with the higher visibility and connectivity that Facebook or Twitter provide, those traditional platforms still highly used for outward media communication; it’s where the propaganda posts and battle cries are in full swing. The real action, mobilizing protestors, finding allies, and organizing rallies, though happens behind the Big Tech scenes, where networks are built rapidly and vastly, yet without the scrutiny and inspection of the government eye. As we see people’s movements changing around the world, we also have been witnessing a dynamic evolution in social networks and communication technology.