#Join the protest !

In 2008 just before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, the now hugely popular social media site Twitter had just started picking up major steam. Although each quarter in 2008 saw upwards of 100 million tweets, only a handful of public figures in the United States and beyond could boast of having a twitter account, even if they did their interactions on it were not as frequent and closely monitored as they are today. Since then Politicians (most famously a sitting House of Representative member), administrators, actors and actresses, athletes, sport personalities and so on have had their careers, character and social status dissected, marauded or chaotically brought to a screeching halt all because of social media. In the case of Rep. Weiner of New York, (who only a couple of weeks ago resurrected his political ambitions by declaring an interest in the mayoral seat in New York City), his implosion was self-inflicted and boy was it painful. With Amanda Byrnes a Hollywood actress, her speedy spiral into career obfuscation has been playing out on social media sites just like a boring reality show that seems almost forced to deliver. But ultimately social media has had a fuelling front seat role in numerous uprisings, violent protests, causes and riots around the world. I am not just talking the Arab Springs of 2011 but more after them. The London riots that started as a protest in Tottenham spread to several English cities after the shooting death of Mark Duggan by police officers. In the case of the London riots social media sites played a major role as was later identified by the Metropolitan police. Many of the arrests that followed were as a result of pictures (self-portraits) and videos that were taken by looters and violent elements in the society. Most of these individuals posed for photographs while still handling stolen goods or kicking down doors to Mom and Pop stores and businesses. In addition to twitter, Black Berry messenger popularly called BBM played a big role in these riots. Fast forward to Brazil in June 2013 and the effects of social media has accelerated protests that started off in a small city. The role of twitter, instagram, Facebook and the messaging service what’s app has come into very close scrutiny by the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN). It’s yet to be seen how social media will play a role in the eventual prosecution of criminal elements involved in these protests but it certainly has become a mainstay for protests, riots and violent demonstrations to exponentially grow as a result of posts, pokes, uploads and the voice of digital town criers on the net. On May 28th 2013, a small sit down, protesting the demolition of a state park morphed into total chaos, looting and wanton destruction of property in Turkey. The decision by security personnel to use high handed measures to quell nonviolent protest exacerbated a rather peaceful protest. In demonizing the role that social media played in these protests, President Erdogan of Turkey was quoted as naming twitter as a menace and leading cause of the protests, “There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society." By blaming social media and political opponents, President Erdogan intentionally ignores reasons presented by the protesters for their dissatisfaction to his government. He also ignores the positive benefits that social media has played in the lives of about 35% of Turkish citizens as the Pew Research Center reports the rate of usage in Turkey. Social media is simply another avenue that allows for free speech and free flow of information. Irrespective of what emanates from this free flow of information; any Government that directly or indirectly tries to suppress the use of social media, simply leaves itself to be tagged as dictatorial, oppressive, an enemy of change, and a usurper of civil rights, whatever the case maybe. Within the advent and introduction of telephones and radios, similar occurrences and questions of its destructive nature must have been debated. Radio stations and Disc Jockeys as we know it today played a significant role in organizing, motivating and making information available to Civil Rights protesters for the southern civil rights movement, according to Brian Ward, a University of Florida History Professor who explores the role of media in his book “Radio and the struggle of Civil Rights in the South”. The free flow of information allows for greater information sharing amongst individuals, groups and communities. Social media itself cannot be blamed for the actions of people. In situations where social media has been used to alert people of impending danger then a flip side to its usefulness is recognized. In developing countries especially in most parts of Africa that has not seen their own version of an “African Spring” social media and smartphone technology has had positive effects on how people communicate, relate to their Government and leaders especially how they execute business transactions including paying for goods and services. In these countries, like Kenya and Nigeria, democratic governments have preemptively set up parameters to monitor social media and smartphone usage by their citizens. In the case of Nigeria, we have seen in recent time’s total blackouts (with the aid of Mobile Network providers) of cell phone towers at various times by security services, raising another question of how emergency health services can be alerted in within such times. The legal questions that social media’s use poses in recent times across different societies is one that cannot be answered very quickly, but it’s now meant for the legislature and judiciary with a flavor of compromise by the society to find a solution to these ever evolving questions. In the future, improved forms of social media will be introduced by improved technological innovations, rushing to make laws and set limits now will only bring us back to the drawing board. But an answer to NOW is required as future “springs” and “winters” are yet to be experienced.