A. Fine on social media and social protest:
Yesterday was the fifth anniversary (that can’t be the best word to mark a milestone tied to such a shameful event) of the start of the Iraq war. Protest marches happened across the country, and again San Francisco was the center of the intersection of civil protest and social media. But this time a new tool was introduced, Twitter. Like Jeff Jarvis (read it here) I was an initial skeptic of Twitter, it seemed too cute, just another way for Millennials to announce themselves to the world - whether we want or need to know where exactly they are at any moment in time. But, as described here on Wired, Twitter played a critical role in helping to organize protesters throughout the day: “What’s new in the last four years is the addition of the text messaging,” says Taylor. “In the past, (street protest organizers) have had walkie-talkies out there and a bullhorn, but the people with the radios would always get arrested by the police.”
Still, the Heat Ray will fry them all but good.
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