Social Media

Communication Revolution
Social media have revolutionized the way we communicate and have impacted society in several ways. It has made those of us participating in it readers, writers and editors. It has brought us together to share information, converse about that information and collaborate on ideas. It has provided us the opportunities to form groups of like-minded people in a virtual space.



Collective Action
It has also provided the opportunity to take these collective thoughts and act offline on them. Clay Shirky calls this “Collective Action.” While I was viewing his February 28, 2008 presentation at Harvard Law School's Austin Hall he said many things that caught my attention but two stood out:

• in a high freedom environment , people tend to use social media for entertainment


• in a low freedom environment , people tend to use social media for political change

While I agree with his statement about a “low freedom environment,” I disagree with his statement about the “high freedom environment.” There are many individuals and companies using social media outside of entertainment such as Kellogg, Yoplait and many others. To be fair to Shirky, his presentation was given in 2008 - before the 2009 US presidential election which changed the way campaigns will be run in the future.

High Freedom Environment – Obama Election

The Obama campaign used social media to build awareness and build collective action. He was able to connect various forms of social media to build an integrated network of like-minded people. These people wanted change and were online.

Through social media, Obama was able to:

• raise money
• raise awareness of his ideas
• organize people at the local level
• get people out to vote
• collect names and contact information

The network that came as the result of the campaign is now a million plus-name database that can be called upon easily and instantaneously. This online network was able to act offline and change the course of history.

Low Freedom Environment – Iran 2009 Presidential Elections

The collective action in Iran during the 2009 presidential election was different than the Obama networked collective action. Iran has tightly controlled and censored media, but when the 2009 presidential election result was announced, Mousavi proponents took to the streets in Tehran and it was all tweeted, posted, texted, videoed, photographed and published through social media tools.

The collective action was fostered by individuals not necessarily acting as an organized group yet their collective thoughts were just as powerful. I think that the government of Iran was surprised by the revolt but maybe more so of the social media tools that the public had. When individuals have tools to publish globally, it is difficult to keep them from doing so. These “citizen journalists” relied on social media – in particular Twitter and YouTube to inform Iranians and the outside world the real story happening on the streets of Tehran.

The Iranian government officials tried to shut down access to Twitter but it was a futile gesture. They had to rely on "strong-arm" tactics to disperse the crowds and stop the reporting from the streets. Although this collective action did not change the outcome of the election, it was still successful in that the Iranian people realized how powerful their voices are and that when they "speak" the world hears them.

What I Have Learned to Realize About Social Media

Social media:

• should not be considered solely as entertainment tools
• are powerful tools that can change the course of history
• are difficult for governing bodies to censor or control
• can be used for purposes of brilliance and silliness

Shirky,Clay. (February 28,2008) On new book "Here Comes Everybody.The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" speaking at Harvard Law School's Austin Hall on Feb. 28,2008 link

*"Social Media" image found on Google Images (http://compassioninpolitics.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/social-media-trends-2009jess3.jpg)*%22Obama" image found on Google Images (http://www.ddbseattle.com/blogs/alison_byrne_fields/assets/2531094926_144140293b.jpg)
*"Iran" image found on Google Images (http://ondeadline.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/expel-the-correspondents1.jpg)