We spent a decent amount of time talking about the diffusion of technology in our society--whether it was good or bad to have information traveling so fast. We talked about the hierarchy of communication--how talking on the phone is much more formal than sending an email which is more formal than chatting on facebook. But I honestly think it depends on the situation. Social media alerts me to important issues or trending topics, but I would never rely on facebook as a reliable source of information. If my NewsFeed gets littered with posts about THON from all my Penn State friends and I have absolutely no idea what THON is, I'll go google it try and learn some more, do my own research to figure out what's going on. With respect to the revolutions in the Middle East, the social media tools accelerated the rate at which these revolutions occurred, they did not cause the revolts to occur.
One point that really struck me was that facebook and popular social media tools were made in a country where the citizens have the right of free speech. We have the right to say whatever we want that doesn't cause physical harm or distress. In other countries, the citizens do not have that right and they are restricted with what they can say. The internet provides a sense of anonymity that gives people a freedom to say whatever they want without the risk of it being tracked back to them. But in a country where free speech is restricted, governments can use their laws to track what people are saying, what ideas they are writing on the internet and penalize them for using social media as an outlet for their ideas. It's difficult to compare the way Americans use social media with the way Egyptians use social media because we have such vastly different cultures outside of the social media outlets. Our governments have very different opinions about how social media can be used as a tool or as an outlet.
One point that really struck me was that facebook and popular social media tools were made in a country where the citizens have the right of free speech. We have the right to say whatever we want that doesn't cause physical harm or distress. In other countries, the citizens do not have that right and they are restricted with what they can say. The internet provides a sense of anonymity that gives people a freedom to say whatever they want without the risk of it being tracked back to them. But in a country where free speech is restricted, governments can use their laws to track what people are saying, what ideas they are writing on the internet and penalize them for using social media as an outlet for their ideas. It's difficult to compare the way Americans use social media with the way Egyptians use social media because we have such vastly different cultures outside of the social media outlets. Our governments have very different opinions about how social media can be used as a tool or as an outlet.
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