The advent of social media platforms brought connectivity to the voiceless and through this connectivity, leads to empowerment. Through this empowerment, the connected individuals are inciting revolution and toppling political establishments through social media platforms. As a result of this the net has become a highly political place as it has the power of fast mobilization, mass involvement and a scalable openness. Whilst revolutions and falling governments are not a new concept on the historical scale, social media allows for a network of peripheries which is so very powerful in itself.
However there are many different interpretations on the role of social media in inciting revolutions and I find this to be extremely interesting. The relevant schools of thought here are:
- Idealist – cyber utopian
- Idealist 2.0 – new medium, new message
- Critical – organizational tool (cyber realist)
- Conspiratorial – who is behind this
In my opinion I believe I agree largely with the critical view of this as whilst I do not dispute the power of social media in regards to revolutions however revolution is never enough and beyond this, social media cannot make the physical changes.
The Diary of a BCM Student 
Hi Georgia, good post explaining social network revolutions. It was good how you explained what a social network revolution was and how it affects people in a positive and negative way. One thing I can suggest for this post would be having a clear example of a revolution, you can have a look at this link http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/01/18/if-you-doubt-that-social-media-has-changed-the-world-take-a-look-at-ukraine/#389552ef699d, it looks at the Ukraine and other revolutions. Overall I really like your post, it was short and sweet and your meme was pretty funny!
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I agree to an extent with your post, but I have to raise the point of the organizational ability social media provides for mass rallying and protest, if you have a look at one of the readings in this weeks topic of the euromaiden, social media was a really progressive tool for those activists. Love the meme, short, simple, too the point and worth a chuckle!
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I enjoyed reading your post. However, I do think social media is powerful. While stuck in a coup in Turkey, my only way to communicate back home was facebook messenger. As a previous social media revolution skeptic, I do think social media has a larger role. Below is a link to black radio network who state they rely on social media as a minority. It’a a different perspective and one I appreciate. Hope you have a look. http://www.blackradionetwork.com/
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