A writer recently posed the question vis a vis social media: how can you spark a revolution and make money at the same time?
This is the dilemma for Facebook, and to an extent, Twitter and other social networking applications.
One of the biggest news items associated with the recent uproar in Egypt was the protesters visibly thanking Facebook for helping get the revolution going.
Says the website SFGate, "One protest leader, Wael Ghonim, said he wanted to meet Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and thank him.
"This revolution started online," he said in an interview Friday on CNN. "This revolution started on Facebook."
"But as a company, Facebook Inc. - and to a similar extent Twitter Inc. - has taken great pains to appear neutral about the uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East because taking too much credit could leave the Palo Alto company open to blame or being shut off from other countries."
Because citizens of the U.S., and for the most part, Europe, have wide-open access to the Internet, we assume - incorrectly - that everyone else does, too. China, for example, blocks both Facebook and Twitter, as well as a number of other websites.
Just as marketers were quick to figure out the immense opportunity represented by a platform that was all about reporting on our own lifestyles, so too have activists recognized the potential to engineer social change, and activate simmering passions.
Because of its role in exciting the recent protest in Cairo, Facebook was temporarily blocked in Egypt. At the time, Facebook issued this carefully worded statement: "A world without the Internet is unimaginable. Although the turmoil in Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people and their government to resolve, limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community."
This past summer we experienced the effects of an earthquake here in Syracuse. I was sitting at my desk at work when the shaking started, and within seconds, Twitter had reports of not only the quake, but its intensity. Faster, more complete, and, it turns out, more accurate than any news or scientific source I could find. Now, granted, these sources are "official," and, as such, have a responsibility to report events after carefully vetting them for the facts. Twitter and Facebook have no such responsibility.
Still, I think you get the point: information, excitement, energy, plans - all this can be passed from person to person literally around the world and in the blink of an eye using social media.
I am still amazed at how quickly a viral video or joke will flash across the Internet. And of course, a story can be handed around that is simply untrue, but as any lawyer will tell you, once a statement has been made in a courtroom, a jury will have a hard time forgetting it, even if it is false.
One thing we know for certain: this particular genie isn't going back in the bottle. Social media are here to stay, and as pirate sites have proven over and over again, they can be policed and shut down, and they simply move and appear again - and pretty soon, everyone knows about it. It's not like a counterfeiting ring that has to pack up huge printing presses and find another abandoned warehouse, or hunt for another group of willing criminals to see the fake bills into circulation. Moving a website is simply pushing a few buttons, and can be done relatively anonymously.
Granted, blocking a site like Facebook, or Twitter, can be a bit easier to manage. But there are always other avenues, and as long as people both inside and outside a particular community are motivated, messages can, and will, be spread.
This is the dilemma for Facebook, and to an extent, Twitter and other social networking applications.
One of the biggest news items associated with the recent uproar in Egypt was the protesters visibly thanking Facebook for helping get the revolution going.
Says the website SFGate, "One protest leader, Wael Ghonim, said he wanted to meet Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and thank him.
"This revolution started online," he said in an interview Friday on CNN. "This revolution started on Facebook."
"But as a company, Facebook Inc. - and to a similar extent Twitter Inc. - has taken great pains to appear neutral about the uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East because taking too much credit could leave the Palo Alto company open to blame or being shut off from other countries."
Because citizens of the U.S., and for the most part, Europe, have wide-open access to the Internet, we assume - incorrectly - that everyone else does, too. China, for example, blocks both Facebook and Twitter, as well as a number of other websites.
Just as marketers were quick to figure out the immense opportunity represented by a platform that was all about reporting on our own lifestyles, so too have activists recognized the potential to engineer social change, and activate simmering passions.
Because of its role in exciting the recent protest in Cairo, Facebook was temporarily blocked in Egypt. At the time, Facebook issued this carefully worded statement: "A world without the Internet is unimaginable. Although the turmoil in Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people and their government to resolve, limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community."
This past summer we experienced the effects of an earthquake here in Syracuse. I was sitting at my desk at work when the shaking started, and within seconds, Twitter had reports of not only the quake, but its intensity. Faster, more complete, and, it turns out, more accurate than any news or scientific source I could find. Now, granted, these sources are "official," and, as such, have a responsibility to report events after carefully vetting them for the facts. Twitter and Facebook have no such responsibility.
Still, I think you get the point: information, excitement, energy, plans - all this can be passed from person to person literally around the world and in the blink of an eye using social media.
I am still amazed at how quickly a viral video or joke will flash across the Internet. And of course, a story can be handed around that is simply untrue, but as any lawyer will tell you, once a statement has been made in a courtroom, a jury will have a hard time forgetting it, even if it is false.
One thing we know for certain: this particular genie isn't going back in the bottle. Social media are here to stay, and as pirate sites have proven over and over again, they can be policed and shut down, and they simply move and appear again - and pretty soon, everyone knows about it. It's not like a counterfeiting ring that has to pack up huge printing presses and find another abandoned warehouse, or hunt for another group of willing criminals to see the fake bills into circulation. Moving a website is simply pushing a few buttons, and can be done relatively anonymously.
Granted, blocking a site like Facebook, or Twitter, can be a bit easier to manage. But there are always other avenues, and as long as people both inside and outside a particular community are motivated, messages can, and will, be spread.
Comments