InfoAnda - Insight: Social media - a political tool for good or evil? |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Man fined S$19k for smuggling cigarettes through parcel post | 4 December 2008
Microsoft launching Zune HD | 28 May 2009
Death toll in Indonesian ferry fire soars to 11 | 29 January 2011

News Corp eyes online news consortium: report | Technology | | 21 August 2009

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Insight: Social media - a political tool for good or evil? |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Green Business Legal Deals Earnings Summits Business Video Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia Afghan Journal Africa Journal India Insight Global News Journal Pakistan: Now or Never? World Video Politics Politics Home Front Row Washington Politics Video Technology Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland Felix Salmon Jack Shafer Breakingviews George Chen Bernd Debusmann Gregg Easterbrook Nader Mousavizadeh James Saft John Wasik Christopher Whalen Ian Bremmer Mohamed El-Erian Lawrence Summers The Great Debate Unstructured Finance Newsmaker MuniLand Money Money Home Analyst Research Global Investing MuniLand Reuters Money Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Life & Culture Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Left Field Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Article Comments (0) Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Knox "crucified" in murder case, lawyer says | 10:17am EDT Europe again steps back from brink in debt crisis | 10:30am EDT Perry aides told different stories in lawsuit | 9:31am EDT Kindle Fire may force Android tablet makers to cut prices | 7:33am EDT Typhoon Nesat hits China after sweeping past Hong Kong | 8:58am EDT Discussed 114 Particles recorded moving faster than light: CERN 83 UPDATE 1-Particles found to break speed of light 63 Herman Cain wins Florida Republican straw poll Watched Rihanna's "inappropriate" outfit halts music video Tue, Sep 27 2011 Kindle Fire in Action! Wed, Sep 28 2011 Listeria outbreak kills 13 Americans Wed, Sep 28 2011 Insight: Social media - a political tool for good or evil? Tweet Share this Email Print Official Twitpic account page of Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff displays his new cartoon in Rio de Janeiro August 29, 2011. Latuff, a 42-year-old leftist whose only family link to the Middle East is a Lebanese grandfather he never knew, has become a hero of the tumultuous Arab Spring with rapid-fire satirical sketches that have helped inspire the uprisings. All he has needed is his pen, a passion for the region's struggles and a Twitter account. Starting with the Tunisia uprisings last December, Latuff's work has been downloaded by protest leaders and splashed on tee-shirts and banners at protests from Egypt to Libya and Bahrain, becoming a satirical emblem of outrage. Credit: Reuters/Sergio Moraes Related News Yemen's Saleh calls for early elections, violence goes Sun, Sep 25 2011 Facebook builds tighter integration with music, TV Thu, Sep 22 2011 Obama seeks to ease doubts on global leadership Wed, Sep 21 2011 Yemen scrambles for ceasefire as death toll rises Tue, Sep 20 2011 Clashes escalate in Yemen after crackdown Mon, Sep 19 2011 Analysis & Opinion Polycom to plug communication gap Notes on Groupon Related Topics Technology » Media » By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:34am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After the "Arab Spring" surprised the world with the power of technology to revolutionize political dissent, governments are racing to develop strategies to respond to, and even control, the new player in the political arena -- social media. Anti-government protesters in Tunisia and Egypt used Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to run rings around attempts at censorship and organize demonstrations that ousted presidents Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. That served as a wake-up call to those in authority. By allowing millions of citizens to coordinate political action quickly and often without conventional leadership, the new technology is challenging traditional political power structures. "We are well beyond being able to consider social media a fad," said Alec Ross, one of the creators of technology policy for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and now senior adviser for innovation to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "If you are not open to social media spaces then you are not attuned to the dynamics on the street and you sacrifice both understanding and power." Being ahead of the game when it comes to embracing social media, Washington hopes, will be key to maintaining its influence in a changing world. Diplomats at every level are being trained to use it to explain U.S. policy and, more importantly, listen to what is being said and written in the countries in which they operate. Ross says that as an early adopter of the technology, the State Department is now becoming an adviser to other governments on social media. The United States, too, has seen some modest signs of social media-organized protest, with hundreds of protesters occupying Wall Street for days this month in anger at perceived excesses by its banks. In Europe, activists have used similar tools to coordinate mass street unrest, although few expect U.S. disturbances on that scale. MONITORING ONLINE DISSENT Since events in Cairo and Tunis blindsided governments, analysts and markets around the world, experts say investment has stepped up hugely in tools to monitor social media platforms in the hope of predicting future upheaval. "What people are increasingly looking at is predictive analysis," said Rohini Srihari, a computer scientist at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. "The Holy Grail is to beat the news. They are looking to predict a specific riot or protest at a specific location and time." Much of the interest in that technology is seen coming from intelligence and national security agencies, but private companies and investors are also taking notice and new firms springing up offer a range of analytic products. Not all promise to predict events with precision -- but they do offer ways to deliver insight on wider trends and snapshots of online debate. "Social media is better for strategic rather than tactical analysis," Fadl Al Tarzi, chief operating officer at United Arab Emirates-based monitoring firm News Group International, told a conference on social media and politics at the United States Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C. "It is hard to predict exactly when something will happen but it can show you broader trends. Yes, if you had enough conversations with enough of the right people you would get the same level of information but that is not always economic or feasible to do or possible at the same speed." WHITHER CENSORSHIP? Political repression, economic crises and the widening wealth gap in many countries could all further fuel the growth in social media-fed protest. Much, like recent protests against cuts in Spain and many of the demonstrations of the "Arab Spring," may prove peaceful but others have already proved violent and disruptive. The question for governments is what responses might prove effective and acceptable. So complex and fast moving are modern systems, some experts suspect, that any attempts at censorship or shutdowns will simply be circumvented or overwhelmed. But there are clear signs that some in authority would dearly like to find ways of tightening controls. British Prime Minister David Cameron was widely criticized, even within his own party, for threatening to impose censorship and shutdown social media and messaging platforms in response to London's August riots. The way inner-city youths used secure smart phone messaging to coordinate mass looting sprees and arson showed such tools were not merely the preserve of political activists. San Francisco's BART transit system faced widespread anger and accusations of breaching the U.S. constitutional guarantees of free speech when it sought to shut down mobile phone services within the system in an attempt to stymie protests after a shooting by a transit authority police officer. Autocratic states, however, have few such reservations. In Russia, websites used by dissident bloggers found themselves under cyber attack from hackers suspected sympathetic to the Kremlin. China's use of its sophisticated system to monitor and sometimes censor online debate efforts is widely believed to have stepped up dramatically this year. Beijing's communist leaders managed to avoid the widespread street protest they saw elsewhere, but they failed to prevent almost unprecedented criticism of their response to a high-speed rail crash. In the Middle East, the reaction has been mixed. Some countries have moved to arrest or threaten bloggers or those they accuse of spreading "malicious rumors," while others have also tried to reach out to online activists. CARROT AND STICK APPROACH "There's been quite a strong reaction," says Sultan al-Qassemi, a blogger and commentator based in the UAE. "It's a carrot and stick approach. Some of it is good. But they have been also seeking out individual people to make examples of." In effect, major social media companies -- such as Google, Facebook and Twitter -- could become gatekeepers of debate and dissent. And while some Internet giants such as Facebook may be willing to make concessions to access markets such as China, Google looks to be bracing for an era of confrontation. In July, its chairman Eric Schmidt told a conference in Dublin he believed the firm's tussles with governments over Internet censorship would get worse, adding that his own colleagues faced a mounting danger of arrest and torture. During the Egyptian revolution Google executive Wael Ghonim was seized and arrested for involvement in helping organize the protests. At the State Department, Ross says he believes the world is still nowhere near a global consensus on how to handle the coming changes. But finding solutions, he said, is vital. Many argue that if governments are not to shut down the Internet and other networks altogether -- with all the attached economic costs and at the risk of producing a still-larger backlash -- then they will have little choice but to allow the relatively free flow of communication including dissent. "If you are willing to sacrifice economic modernity and growth, then turn off the Internet," says Ross. "But if you want to be part of a vibrant, global marketplace and build a knowledge-based economy, you have to have an open Internet. ... We hope to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impact of living in a hyper-networked world." (Editing by David Storey and Jackie Frank) (The following story was corrected to say Ross helped to form technology policy for Obama 2008 campaign, not social media strategy, paragraph 4) Technology Media Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Social Stream (What's this?) Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Contact Us Advertise With Us Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Thursday, 29 September 2011
Clinton says U.S. close to decision on Haqqanis |
Obama predicts Latino presidential candidate in his lifetime
Afghan president questions future of peace talks |
Peacekeepers deploy in tense Kosovo |
Libya ready to probe possible other Lockerbie suspects |
NBA Players Association head Billy Hunter calls for in-house meeting Friday
U.S. warns on possible Saudi abduction plot |
Former Florida Governor Claude Kirk dies at 85
Amazon's Kindle tablet may loosen Apple iPad's tight grip on market
Car bomb kills eight in Russia's Dagestan |
Bolivian workers strike to protest controversial highway
Jose Reyes pulled after bunt-single; Mets shortstop leads batting title race
Bahrain upholds life sentences for protest leaders |
U.S. stocks lower Wednesday in afternoon trading
Somali leaders set to clean trash, Al Shabaab stragglers from capital
DWTS sends home model Elisabetta Canalis
European Commission proposes EU financial services tax
Groupon gets into online retailing with Groupon Goods |
Group challenges FCC's net neutrality rules |
Apple expected to unveil new iPhone next week |
Scarlett Johansson says privacy invasion is unjust, wrong |
Andy Rooney to end his regular run on 60 Minutes |
Catalan film beats Almodovar into Oscar race |
Better late than never: Polanski gets his award |
Pakistani leaders to meet on crisis with U.S. |
Libya's NTC thinks Gaddafi hiding near Algeria |
Shelling, gunfire rocks Yemen capital, breaking truce |
Typhoon Nesat hits HK, closing financial markets |
Insight: Velvet glove trumps iron fist in south China land riot |
AL Central champ Tigers close regular season with victory over Indians
Indians forge 3-1 fifth inning lead over Tigers in regular-season finale
Fire at Shell's Singapore refinery surges again |
Fine possible for man who tossed banana near black NHL player
Big bucks to see Buckeyes: Ohio State has two games among priciest of season
E-mail warns of bombs in Nigerian capital |
President Obama looking for a new conditional window with Cuba
White Sox surrender bases-loaded walks, fall to Jays
Egypt parties threaten poll boycott, protest planned |
Kindle Fire may force Android tablet makers to cut prices |
Samsung sees low growth rate for chip industry in 2012 |
Fake iPhone ring busted in China: report |
T-Mobile lines up against Apple in Samsung lawsuit |
Nokia to cut 3,500 jobs, close Romania plant |
Samsung aims to sell up to 250,000 mirrorless cameras this year |
Hacked off: Assange moans about unofficial autobiography |
Groupon gets into online retailing with Groupon Goods |
U.S. DOJ seeks information on Google-Motorola deal |
Frantic calls, crying kids at scene of Jackson death |
Dancing with the Stars hit by white powder scare |
J. Cole's Sideline Story earns warm reviews |
Fox's New Girl invited to stay for full TV season |
Libya's NTC retakes airport in Gaddafi home town |
Pro-Assad crowd stones U.S. envoy's convoy in Damascus |
Knox crucified in murder case, lawyer says |
Fidel Castro lashes out at Obama, U.S. policy |
Venezuela's Chavez scoffs at health emergency rumors |
Suicide bomber kills three in Iraq's Kirkuk |
Bahrain jails 20 doctors after democracy protests |
Bomb claims Afghanistan's first female police victims |
Strapped states crave bigger online tax bite |
Warner Bros puts your face in Facebook Web series |
Insight: Social media
Analysis: Could one music downloader change U.S. copyright law? |
Rapper T.I. completes sentence at Atlanta halfway house |
Warner Bros puts your face in Facebook Web series |
New book satirizes reality TV, PC Britain, media |
Scarlett Johansson says privacy invasion is unjust, wrong |
J. Cole's Sideline Story earns warm reviews |
Son to conductor Stenz: Don't mess it up, Dad |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01