Media Worlds

MEDIA & GLOBAL POLITICS Culture Shirky's piece is about the potential for media to change the course of government and politics across the world. He writes of ways that specifically the technology of social media has the power and/or potential for political activism and social change. The 21st century has seen an increase in the frequency and the efficiency of grassroots activism and social movements around the world, due in great part because of the Internet and social media.

In fact, the drastic increase in this kind of activity began in the late 20th century: Since the rise of the Internet in the early 1990s, the world's networked population has grown from the low millions to the low billions.

Over the same period, social media have become a fact of life for civil society worldwide, involving many actors -- regular citizens, activists, nongovernmental organizations, telecommunications firms, software providers, governments…As the communications landscape gets denser, more complex, and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public speech, and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action. (2011,-Page 1-2) Shirky informs readers of both the liberative power as well as the destructive potential for media in global politics.

With the combinations of social media, mass media, journalism, and digital technology, people are urged to act, but to act with responsibility. Established governments should be aware of the potential for the power to wane because of new methods of activism via social media. All social and political activism is not meant to be a threat to governmental authority, yet their concerns and accomplishments should be taken into serious consideration. Social media has the power to level the playing field between the people and the government.

Morozov, too, is concerned with the potential for social media as a powerful factor in enacting social and political change. While he discusses social media in general, Morozov uses examples where FaceBook is a prominent factor for enabling change to occur on a national scale, citing examples in Europe. He specifically calls upon the generation(s) of Digital Natives to use social media to unify under just and common causes as well as to mobilize their grievances.

He goes on to provide examples of the ways Digital Natives have been doing just that. Furthermore, he lists several powerful companies, seeing the power and the effects of well-wielded social media produces, jumping on the social media bandwagon to increase their customer loyalty, brand strength, and course, revenue.

Similarly to Skirky, Morozov urges organizations & governments alike to exercise ethics and responsibility: While it's tempting to forget this in an era of social networking, the fight for democracy and human rights is fought offline as well, by decades-old NGOs and even by some brave lonely warriors unaffiliated with any organizations. Before policymakers embrace digital activism as an effective way of pushing against authoritarian governments, they are well-advised to fully investigate its impact both on its practitioners and on the overall tempo of democratization.

(Net Delusion, 2011) Just like Morozov, Castells concentrates on how social media and other forms of digital technology promote networks among people in both real and virtual communities. He explains the four different kinds of networking power including who & what is in the network, and the protocols of the network communication. (2009) For him, the network exists among the individuals who compose it or participate in it as well as the technology required to put it in place.

Additionally, Castells discusses self mass communication, which is a primary function of most social media outlets including Twitter, YouTube, and FaceBook. Self mass.