Social Media Me

Social Media and its role in the Middle East revolution is quite obviously a touchy subject for me on the basis that I am working in the Middle East market, however I feel that I should at least cover the subject in some depth even with my limited knowledge of the Middle East and its politics.

Firstly to “blame” or “attribute” social media for the current unrest and revolutions in the Middle East is probably somewhat juvenile.  It is the people in those countries that have caused the revolution; it’s simply that they are using a much more efficient communications medium that allows descent to spread faster than ever before.   It is fair to say that Social Media had a large role in the communications process of course,

Who could have imagined the speed and depth of the popular uprisings ignited by anti-government sentiment based on years of authoritarian repression, economic stagnation and a general loss of hope among citizens of the countries impacted…well I could.

It has been on the cards for a long time, and thinking that this sort of thing will not happen in Western countries like the UK and USA is a complete and utter fallacy.  In early 2011 when I spoke at the regional Social Media conference in Jordan I explained exactly how governments by trying to control social media were actually throwing fuel on the fire by making their denizens even more pissed off than they were previously.  

You can expect much more social unrest, not fuelled by social media but fuelled by unjust, corrupt, and unpopular public policies that simply light the passions within people, get them angry and then get them talking.  A short skip and a jump from talking are meeting and mobilisation – a very short skip and a jump. 

I also wonder exactly what external elements came to play in spreading the uprisings in these countries, certainly I wouldn’t be too much of a conspiracy theorist to think that the CIA, MI5 and other secret services were at least monitoring the situation, and you can be 100% sure that there are foreign government funded think tanks and NGO’s that actively support people in these countries by providing them resources, support and of course money. 

Certainly the death of Neda Soltan, a young woman in Iran who was shot and killed by a police sniper as she watched pro-democracy demonstrators on the streets of Tehran in 2009 was awful, it was also heavily covered in the US and UK media – whilst some of the stories in their own back yards, especially police brutality and death in “Police custodies” do not get the same coverage on their own media. 

So where am I going with all of this – I guess two points.  Expect a hell of a lot more unrest and revolutions – The communications infrastructure globally just got a Super Massive Upgrade and by the time governments work out how to control it the technology would have taken another step ahead of them.

Social Media does not cause revolutions – it may help facilitate them, what also facilitates revolutions is governments not giving their citizens free access and ability to use such communications tools – as this of course is repressive.

It’s the same old same old – Governments have to become better at communicating to their people using social media, they have to become better at listening and responding to their citizens issues, complaints and requests or quite simply the people will boot them out of power.

Stone-throwing youths do cause revolutions – or is it corrupt, non-transparent non-caring governments that cause revolution?  Surely in a mythical nirvana where everyone is happy with their government then you do not have these situations?

Well I guess this world just wont exist whilst people have ideologies that they feel are worth killing for, or repressive and corrupt dictatorships and regimes that want to protect their power base.

Whilst Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are more powerful in mobilizing the masses, building worldwide support and forcing old men to step down, its important to note that these “systems” don’t do this on their own unless there is a very pissed of driver behind the screen.

The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are now spreading to at least 10 countries in which Facebook posts and tweets are organizing protestors across North Africa and the Middle East, but its happening in Europe as well.

My prediction for the future – Now we are in the midst of this global depression people have more time to get vocal – expect to see the same types of scenarios in Greece, Portugal and Ireland. 

Does it ever change anything?  Who knows – I guess we will have to look at the History books.  Does social media cause this – NO – Social Media helps facilitate communication, but the beef is ultimately between the governments and the people, Twitter and Facebook are just bits of software sat on hundreds of boxes in server farms in the USA.

Is the world completely screwed – probably?  Is Libya completely screwed – probably certainly I don’t see the NTC as a credible governing body.  Are Egypt and Tunisia going to be better off? Probably not in the long run – history repeats itself and it wont be long before the people that have worked so hard to liberate themseleves will be complaining about "The New Lot" in power. 

What does this mean for governments?  The same old mantra - Listen to what people are saying, engage, communicate and be transparent otherwise you may just find yourself on the baddies side with a nato rocket whizzing up your bottom, especially if you are in an oil producing country! 

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