Social media is much more than a trendy way to express opinions or gain a few followers, it's revolutionizing the way companies reach out to their customers, bringing authentic awareness to the public about current events around the world and even providing a tool that has empowered people to topple an oppressive regime and bring change to their country.
Social networking was credited as a strategic tool which enabled Libyan demonstrators to overthrow their government and bring an end to a brutal regime. Like an article in the Sydney Morning Herald noted, the defining image in the revolution could very well be “a young woman or a young man with a smartphone.”
As Peter Beaumont writes, “She's in the Medina in Tunis with a BlackBerry held aloft, taking a picture of a demonstration outside the prime minister's house. He is an angry Egyptian doctor in an aid station stooping to capture the image of a man with a head injury from missiles thrown by Mubarak's supporters.”
Is it possible that photos, videos and words, coupled with the power of social media, are more powerful tools to create change than guns or even diplomacy? Social media provided an outcome different than we would have seen even fifteen years ago. The uprisings gained momentum, undeniable momentum, that arguably could never have been accomplished as quickly without social media.
While social media played an important role in the Libyan uprising and has been dubbed, the ''Twitter Revolutions,” it’s fair to say many other factors were involved. Even still, it begs the question, how will tools like social media shape the future, especially in the hands of newer, more technically savvy generations?
