Youtube - Zuckerberg - Facebook kids & Arab Spring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEikpvanYzY

This is a very short clip of Mark Zuckerberg (the guy who created Facebook) talking a little bit about our youth on Facebook and then about Facebook in connection with the revolution.  Zuckerberg says that it would be arrogant for any social media source to claim that they had a role in a riot like this.  I disagree with this.  It would not be arrogant if your social media network played a role in a riot and you admitted to it.  Maybe he only says this because he is worried that he could be held accountable for something that happened during the Arab Spring since Facebook did play a role (whether it was small or not).  Because then he says Facebook wasn't necessary or sufficient for anything to happen.  I'm torn with this statement.  In a small way, Facebook could have been necessary depending on how many followers it got from its site and the people posting on it.  If it weren't for Facebook, how many people would have had the information?  This goes along with it being sufficient.  Facebook played a role in the Arab Spring so of course there is going to be some sufficiency with it. Again, I think he may be nervous that if he ever admits that the site that he created caused such a riot, he could pay some kind of penalty.

Youth Bloggers Speak Up

This video is about 4 different people from Northern Africa and the Middle East and their role in the Arab Spring and how social media worked. I really enjoyed this video because it was people around my age that were speaking up. I think this is really interesting because the youth in America doesn't really follow politics that much because we have more rights and freedom. It was interesting to see how these 4 different people thought about the revolutions and how the social media played an important part with them. I also liked how the first girl said that there were rich people and working class people all gathering together for the same cause. She said she never would have imagined these people to be together fighting for the same things. This was interesting to me because it gave me some perspective of the people. I didn't realize that the rich and the poor were both protesting together. At the end the one girl said in Yemen social media wasn't strong in the beginning and that they looked at how social media was used in the past with different ideas. I thought this was smart because they were able to see what was successful and what wasn't successful.

Youth Bloggers Video

YouTube is an Intelligence Source

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/why-youtube-is-an-intelligence-source/471485/

The article explains how the popular website, YouTube, is becoming an intelligence force especially in the case of the Arab Spring.  This article provides examples of how YouTube is so helpful in finding out important information and specific details on events that are occurring in Syria and throughout the world. An analyst in Washington said he relies heavily on YouTube to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Syrian army.  According to the article, “The social networks of Google Inc's YouTube, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc, which provided global visibility for the uprisings of the Arab Spring, also have become important sources of information for US and other intelligence agencies.” I found this article very interesting because it shows how intelligence agencies, the United Nations and other organizations benefit from the use of social media. This article also shows how social media is helping us gain intelligence on what is occurring as a result of the Arab Spring. Social media allows us to see first hand what is occurring throughout the world, sometimes even as it is happening.  

Syrian Government Stronger Than Social Media?

This article showcases the weaknesses of a social media campaign against a ruthless leader such as Syria's Assad. With the international community largely unwilling to intervene in Syria, social media will do little compared to what well organized fighters could do. While Egypt and Libya saw great success in their social media revolts, they had leadership that was much less politically powerful and largely unwilling to fight back as aggressively as Assad is. As the article states, "To overthrow a dictator as skilled and as ruthless as this... You need a rigidly hierarchical, relatively small and highly organized circle of people, located within the country, capable of taking direct action against the state." Assad's government is quite capable of hacking into the Facebook and Twitter accounts of the protestors, a feat that would gain them the names of the protestors and rebels. Information that would take days or weeks or torture to obtain can be gained through a quick hacking. Social media is so easily taken advantage of by savvy government officials who realize that fake profiles and accounts can gain them inside and up to date information on the protests. The social media campaigns worked in Egypt and Tunisia because the governments opened their borders and allowed the international community a first hand glimpse of the protests and responses, a fact that made it nearly impossible to strike back viciously like Assad is doing.

differences on Twitter in regards to UN in Syria

As the UN is trying to desperately muffle the upheaval in Syria, I wanted share one of the many different ways this movement is being portrayed with a view from Al Jazeera, which contrasts greatly with media sources in the United States.  The effort for a cease fire seems to be political rhetoric that sounds pleasing to the United States government as well as other prominent members of the international community.  However those on the ground in Syria feel differently about these diplomatic measures that are being carried out.

Here is the Aljazeera interview/article
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidesyria/2012/04/201241511830376696.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

Why Military Action in Libya and Not Syria?

This article explores the reasons why America was so quick to become involved in the situation in Libya but has been largely reluctant to become an active part in the rebellion in Syria. The stakes in Syria are a lot higher than those in Libya. Washington worked quickly against Moammar Gadhafi with devastating air power striking against his forces. While many claim that since Libya happened first the international community responded there first, other have stated that the Arab League is much more willing to allow the Syrian leader to do as he pleases as they are very close to him. Gadhafi had been accused of attempting to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in 2003, America is very closely tied to Saudi Arabia and Saudi interests are American interests. This attempt lead to antipathy between Gadhafi and the other Arab leaders, making the intervention in Libya a greatly supported action. Syria's leadership is much more protected by other Arab countries. They have close ties to Israel, a country that the U.S. is wary of going against. Syria is also closely linked to Iran and Hezbollah. While getting rid of the Syrian leadership would be in the best interests of the United States, they are not willing to go against the other Arab leaders who are largely unwilling to be on Assad's bad side.

Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube's role in the Arib Spring

This article is about the huge role Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube played in the Arib Spring. It talks about how our government uses these online resources to track or keep an eye on the online behavior incase of another protest. It also breaks it down a little by each country and gives a situation where social media has played a role in the Arib Spring. Then it goes on to talk about what the actual role of social media is, and it talks about different online "revolutions" that had come about, but they say the hardest thing to do with social media is to get them from behind the computer screen and out into the streets to protest.