During the first portion of this past week's readings, the Gladwell article on social revolution and social media was brought into light. Gladwell use the 1960's era civil rights revolution as a lens to compare all current and future revolutions. He clearly believes that a "true social revolution" can not occur via social netoworking, as some described with the Iran political uprisings.
However, I think Gladwell, and his critics, fail to recognize that social revolution and the way people participate in them has changed.
The use of twitter, facebook, and other social media devices has greatly increased the number of participants in these movements. However, it has also created a larger variance in the degree of one's participation. One no longer has to plan a "sit-in" or other form of peaceful protest in order to accomplish significant tasks on the social and political battlefield. These social media devices are merely tools that help the cause. This benefits of these tools will be seen today and into the future.
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