Posts Tagged: Twitter

Politics / Technology — 3 Comments
1
Sep 11

Could Twitter Have Saved Gaddafi?

Tl;dr: The NATO intervention was made possible by the UN mandate to protect civilians which was as a result of news broadcast by western media and Al Jazeera (Owned by Qatar who is part of the NATO coalition) and public opinion going against the Gaddafi regime.

As the war has carried on, it is clear (my opinion) that the media reports are one directional (Pro NATO/Rebels and Anti – Gaddafi). I am asking if the outcome would have been different had Gaddafi used social media (represented by Twitter in this post) to communicate directly to the world thereby bypassing traditional mass media houses who seem to be against him. Changing public opinion and maybe the war outcome in the process.

My post.

Now let me clarify one thing I do not think Twitter is the second coming of Jesus. Actually, this new line of reasoning came up when I was thinking of how my position on Gladwell was right (the Twitteratti did not claim victory in Gaddafi’s fall like they did in Egypt or Iran’s ‘almost revolution’.

Disclaimer: I am utterly opposed to the destruction of Libya(ns) and the UN endorsement and execution of a selective violent coup in search of ‘freedom’.

Some Points

  • Public opinion is an under estimated extremely powerful force in this world. Using public opinion, world leaders and organizations push their cause. If they do not succeed, they quietly fall into line with public opinion. (Once Mubarak was obviously falling, the US fell in line although they supported him). Maybe the WMD war in Iraq is a clearer example?
  • The foreign press in this Libyan conflict has been at best a PR machine for the NATO–Rebel alliance.
  • The passing of the UN resolution was driven mainly by *public opinion alert* “international outrage” which was created by news reports and unclear YouTube videos. Basically, it was based on “unconfirmed reports”.
  • I am using Twitter to represent new (social) media (Facebook, Blogging, YouTube Google+?). In my opinion, Twitter is the most fluid when it comes to disseminating information and it is seen as a very important source of authentic news. Even Joey Barton’s Twitter account is worthy of a BBC editorial.

So how could Twitter have saved the day?

So let us imagine for a moment Gaddafi had a Twitter account:

  1. We would have known the correct spelling of his name (Yaaay!)
  2. He would have had over 1 million followers (potential re-broadcasters). Which would include EVERY major news source and opinion shaper in the world.
  3. Most importantly, he would have had a shot at getting his own word (spin/truth/propaganda) out which the major news network would have had no choice of reporting and reporting it accurately. When there is a public link to a source, it would be difficult to put any spin on it.
  • What if the Gaddafi regime had it own YouTube clip of people in Benghazi asking to be saved from terrorists taking over Benghazi? Showing ‘proof’ that it was members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group that was behind the uprising?
  • What if instead of ranting broadcasts which would be shown (translated) for about a minute, the Gaddafi’s wrote blogposts stating what was happening was no different from that in Bahrain and Yemen and did not need interference? Or anterior motives for the invasion.
  • If Gaddafi had tweeted he was ready to step down and begin a transition immediately but NATO and colleagues adamantly refused?
  • What of if Gaddafis Tweeted that mass murder scenes were orchestrated by the LFIG’s Tripoli Military Commander? Citing the random execution of blacks as reported by the guardian
  • That 60 countries recognizing the rebels means over 100 countries do not.
  • That NATO and co are killing Libyan soldiers and civilians in defensive positions.

These few points are some of the alternate views I see in comment threads and opinion columns. These alternate positions have failed become main stream news, as the mass media have taken a pro NATO-Rebel position.

But Gaddafi publicly stating (Blogging/Tweeting/Facebook Updating) these positions would FORCE the media to report them thereby bringing those views to the forefront.

I believe although this might not have changed public opinion, it would certainly have divided it. Maybe Russia and China would have been encouraged and used their veto powers to prevent the invasion or try to stop it now it has started.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera came to prominence during the earlier ‘War of Terror’ and the invasion of Iraq. It was seen as the station where you could watch and get the other perspective. However, this Libyan war the other side only means Qatar’s side. I was surprised for the first time, Al Jazeera sounded no different from CNN only to realize that Qatar was part of the alliance.

Lesson? Do not depend on any entity you do not have direct control of to speak your side of the story .

But there are already several anti-NATO-US-Rebels blogs out there painting a different picture?

Two things going against that line of reasoning are

1. They do not have the audience size an official Gaddafi account would have.

2. More importantly would not have the credibility that information from an Official Gaddafi news source would have that would make it worth a news story.

So why did the Gaddafi regime not do all these?

I am guessing when you have been all powerful for 42 years, you tend to start believing you are a god of some sort. Other than that i have no idea,

What do you think?

 

Technology — 2 Comments
14
Mar 11

Don’t Hate Twitter. We Just Need an Alternative. (Part 2)

In part one of this Post, I argued that Twitter should not be blamed for turning on the developers and clients like Ubertwitter/social and co. I’ll repeat the quote/statement that best summarizes what twitter is doing.

The saying goes, do not bite the fingers that feeds you, but maybe you should, if the fingers stop you from feeding yourself. 

So how did we get here?

We, including experts like pg and the Twitter founders did not realise what witter was  building. People were too building Twit this, twitter that on top of it. By the time we realised Twitter was having a monopoly on a communication protocol, they became just too powerful.

Why we need an alternative?

Can you imagine if we had only one email or chatting service? i.e only Yahoo providing the worlds email. That is what we almost have with Twitter. A single company controlling this type of communication medium is just too much responsibility. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” and we are starting to see signs of this.

Who then will provide this service?

I will go with the Ubermedia dudes. First reason is that  they have the resources to do it right, in addition to already controlling 10 % of Twitter traffic. Bill Gross also seems like someone who would know how to create and monetize this new platform. At least they won’t have to kick the devs in the balls late in the game.

So why not something OpenSource ?

OpenSource as  technology is great but when OpenSource (many technical people) create products, they don’t seem to create products mainstream users might like. If you take a look at the top groups on identi.ca (application of status.net) you will see it is not built to appeal to main stream users.

I believe the timing is right to launch a Twitter challenger because sentiments are high now. Secondly, the UberMedia guys know they will still be kicked off the platform in the very near future. So why wait? 

Most importantly, good competition will make Twitter better and  more accountable to us all.

What do you think?

Technology — 6 Comments
13
Mar 11

Don’t Hate Twitter. We Just Need an Alternative. (Part 1)

Twitter’s quest to monetize has pitched it against it developers. The ‘last straw’ being this post effectively banning new Twitter clients and putting the existing ones on a tight leach.  Not long ago, Twitter  kicked off the most popular Blackberry client UberTwitter of Twitter.The vocal opponents of Twitters new moves are accusing Twitter of biting the fingers that fed them.

While it is undeniable the role twitter clients played in making Twitter gain traction, I would like to bring to their attention one of my favourite quotes

The saying goes, do not bite the fingers that feed you; but maybe you should, if the fingers stop you from feeding yourself.

Twitter cannot survive commercially and repay the $360 million raised (not including the returns expected by the investors) if it does not take control of the complete ecosystem. Period.

The only blame I put on Twitter is their making of this ‘monetization transition’ slow and painful. What they should have done last year when they introduced their client was to strike once and strike finally. “We are sorry guys, thanks for the love but we are taking over EVERYTHING”.  That way, the damage would have been done once and for all. We would have forgotten about it one the Wikileaks saga came up. But by trudging slowly towards the inevitable end of absolute control, they are simply creating a lot of ‘haters’.

Politics / Technology — 4 Comments
8
Feb 11

Why I Think Gladwell is Right.

Techcrunch published a post highlighting yet another bunch slamming Malcolm Gladwell for pointing out again how inconsequential social media is when it comes to fuelling and sustaining social activism.  

Let’s examine recent events in North Africa.

Tunisia’s revolution was over before CNN (and other western media outlets) got the chance to report YET another African disaster.  Determined to redeem their revolution credibility (RevCred), they stormed Egypt with their cameras and Anderson Cooper became a ‘hero’.  

14 days later, Mubarak is still president and the outside world appears not to be so enthralled with 24-hour news channels coverage of Egypt; disappointed that their ReTweets have not pushed out Mubarak. We are so bored that there is no trace of the Egypt’s revolution on twitter’s trending topics.

What we fail to understand is that the people on the ground – the people affected by the Mubaraks – are not twits. They the guys and girls on the streets; the 94% of the population not on Facebook that experience real hopeless and oppression.

I fully concede that social media tools will have a big role to play in some cases. e.g the upcoming Nigerian elections. But when its comes down to putting your life on the line – that is giving your life for the change that needs to happen in one’s country – the real fuel will be the people in the streets. 

Not Facebook. Not Twitter.

NB: One could even argue that the Internet slowed down the momentum of the revolt or how else can you explain that the most intense part of the protests took place when the Internet was cut off (people had to leave their homes) and slowed down around the time the Internet was restored?

Thanks to Uzo for helping me edit this post. 

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