Seek Truth from Facts

(Think about it)

The oddest thing has been happening to my consulting firm, Hill & Knowlton. A tiny agency in Toronto has called us out on Twitter because we have started (only recently) working for a client whose project is the subject of some public opposition. 

The firm and its spokespeople have jumped to judgement about both our role and the 'guilt' of the client, without investigation and without evident balance.

This often happens when dealing with some advocacy groups, which have reasons of their own to be selective about their stories, and can 'message' and 'spin' with the best of them.

But it is a surprise that an agency of communications professionals should do so. I'll give the agency the benefit of the doubt and assume this is not simply a publicity stunt. It does, however, evidence insensitivity to the importance in our profession of seeking truth from facts.

Or, to put it another way from that old master of the left-wing quip: "No investigation no right to speak" (Mao Zedong).

Twitter Wonders

Once again, Twitter's immediacy captures the imagination of millions. A young woman takes a lovely shot of the space shuttle launch on her iPhone, tweets the image to her followers and is soon fielding calls from major broadcasters.

 And it turns out even country presidents can't resist punching it out with journalists on Twitter. Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, took exception to a British journalist call him “despotic” in a tweet. "For an hour, the two men tussled back and forth in 140 characters or less, jabbing at each other in furious tweets in an unprecedented battle between a head of state and a social media user."

Who says Twitter can't be a place to do battle over reputation?

Protests: The Confidence to Act

There is a type of "critic" who in the face of significant social movements likes to play the role of cynic and doubter, throwing cold water on prevailing ideas.

The best of them, like Andrew Keen, delight in the role of curmudgeon and do so with a kind of tongue in cheek bravura that helps bring clarity to the idea or concept they are challenging. Others appear to resist a dominant idea simply because, well, it is axial to a popular meme.

An influential idea today is that the social web has played a role in the upheaval taking place in the Middle East. Almost on queue, the dutiful and dogged carping began or, if you like, followed in the footsteps of Malcolm Gladwell and his ill-thought out trashing of social revolution. (Paul Seaman: "The reality of revolt is that old-fashioned word-of-mouth communication is the best form of communication in any confrontation with one’s nation state.")

It is true as Evgeny Morozov (a some time carper himself) pointed out in The Globe and Mail, that authoritarian regimes can equally take advantage of the Internet:

(T)he Internet is an excellent platform for inciting revolutionary sentiment – and tracking down wannabe revolutionaries; it is a handy vehicle for spreading propaganda – and revealing government lies; it provides a platform that facilitates government surveillance – and helps people evade it.

Yet, Twitter WAS used as an organizing platform, connector and warning system as this Sysomos infographic (via Mashable) demonstrates

Correct me if I have this wrong, but few social web disbelievers have likely been to war or fought security forces on the streets. If they had, they would recognize the simple truth about the social web and social action: The social web can give people the confidence needed to act.

When protesters take to the streets in Egypt and Tunisia, they do so knowing -- from Facebook walls, Twitter and blog posts and text messages -- they are 'not walking alone', to paraphrase the Liverpool Football Club slogan.

The parallel is why soldiers risk their lives in war. An Army News Services story from 2003 reports on a study about why soldiers fight:

The other role is it provides the confidence and assurance that someone is watching their back. In one infantryman’s words, “You have got to trust them more than your mother, your father, or girlfriend, or your wife, or anybody. It becomes almost like your guardian angel.”

This is as true for people rising up in anger at repression as it is for soldiers in combat.

Young people in particular need to know their friends are with them. And how do they know? Because their social web, SMS and mobile networks give them not just information about a struggle but also faith others will be in the figurative 'foxhole' with them.

What a Social Web Week!

As a follow up to my post earlier this week about Twitter critical role in the Tunisian revolution, here are some links to other article posts, videos and articles looking closely at the social web's role in the Egyptian uprising.

Computerworld reports on efforts earlier this week by the Egyptian government to shutdown various social network platforms in particular Twitter. The lead to its story says it all:

The Egyptian government's decision to shut down access to Twitter appears to be an acknowledgement of just how potent social media tools can be amid the widening civilian unrest.

In a post called "Social Media at the front line in Egypt", CNN takes a look at the social web and its value to journalists in directing them to stories even if it means they have to sift through hundreds of rumours and panicky notes to find the "news". After all . . .

Despite attempts to block Twitter, Facebook and other sites (the government denies it was responsible), a Facebook page devoted to Friday's planned protests had more than 80,000 followers as of 2 p.m. ET Thursday, compared with some 20,000 the previous day.

Al Jazeera is also covering how online activism is fueling protests and helping organize anti-government demonstrations, commenting:

Activists spread the word online about Friday's protests, detailing the list of public squares where people should gather.

Calls for action circulated on Twitter and Facebook since early on Friday morning.

Twitter user rassdwda wrote: "#Egypt protests begin from mosques & churches, #Muslims #Christians 2gether#Jan25".

The Egyptian government itself recognized its inability to control the information flow when it ordered the shutdown of all international ISP connections. And thanks to The Huffington Post, here is a visual on how traffic declined as a result of the government's edict.

History being made . . .

The Revolution Will be Tweeted

The evidence continues to stack up that the social web can be the midwife of political change.

The dissident blogger Slim Amamou is now tweeting from inside the Tunisian cabinet. Having played a major role in the 'revolution' itself, he is using Twitter to post comments on progress to word greater freedom in the country and urging continued vigilance by Tunisians.

Blogger Assaad Thebian reports in EMAJ Magazine ("an intercultural magazine, made by a network of young journalists from the Middle East, North Africa and the EU") that:

In May 2010, a huge campaign called “Free From 404” (Internet language for file not found) was carried out in Tunisia. Twitter hashtags, Facebook profile pictures, articles and videos were created to demonstrate the activists’ refusal of censorship . . .

Later in the same post:

Activists have also been uploading videos of demonstrations to YouTube using the hashtag #sidibouzid (the province where the demonstrations first began last month). Facebook pages such as: “Tunisian News Agency” were the main sources of minute by minute news with live coverage by photos and videos, with thousands joining.

And here is what Alexis Madrigal, a senior editor at The Atlantic, had to say today about Facebook's role both in preventing Tunisian hackers (from Ammar, the nickname given to the secret police censoring the country's Internet) and serving as staging ground for Tunisian opposition:

There has been a lot of debate about whether Twitter helped unleash the massive changes that led Ben Ali to leave office on January 14, but Facebook appears to have played a more important role in spreading dissent. 

'I think Facebook played a bigger role in this case,' said Jillian York of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, who has been tracking the Tunisian situation closely. 'There are a lot more Facebook users than Twitter users. Facebook allows for strong ties in a way that Twitter doesn't. You're not just conversing.'

I will keep a record on this blog of these examples of successful social web activism given the rush among some public intellectuals to dismiss online advocacy with the same condescension they once discarded the social web as a "waste of time".