Ulises Mejias is an Assistant Professor of New Media in the Communication Studies department at SUNY Oswego. You can find his blog here. In this article, The Twitter Revolution Must Die, Mejias argues that we must stop “branding” the uprisings in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries as the “Twitter Revolution,” or “Facebook Revolution,” and instead recognize that these are in fact “human revolutions.”
Mejias questions the true extent social media played in the recent revolutions. He brings up arguments from both sides, stating that some believe the internet has a sort of “super power” in it’s ability to liberate and connect people together, while at the same time failing to build long-lasting alliances. He claims that “both sides are, perhaps, engaging in a bit of technological determinism?one by embellishing the agency of technology, the other by diminishing it.” Even more so, Mejias fears that this preoccupation with the role of Facebook/Twitter/YouTube in sparking revolt 1. “depoliticizes our understanding of the conflicts” and 2. “whitewashes the role of capitalism in suppressing democracy.” This embeds an association of social media and digital products with democracy into our thinking. Essentially, it can make us believe that countries without Facebook or Twitter are potentially undemocratic. Furthermore, it would make us believe that the corporations behind these products are for the people.
…as digital networks grow and become more centralized and privatized, they increase opportunities for participation, but they also increase inequality, and make it easier for authorities to control them.
Just because we are relieved of our physical and spatial boundaries, the internet doesn’t necessarily give us true freedom. We must remember that there are companies behind these services. We can already see how these companies use computer-based analysis to market certain products toward us. Their privacy policies are questionable at best. The certain Web companies have even aided the government in spying on their users.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/ThvBJMzmSZI[/youtube]
We cannot ignore the fact that social media played a role in providing a convenient way in organizing a revolution — but they are merely the medium. They are not the reason. These are people, not computers, fighting for their rights. It is unfair, and even offensive, to give Facebook the credit. Political tyranny, and social distress drove the people to rise up against the government. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube merely made it easier to do so.
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