#Revolutions

Egypt, a land and word recognized and associated with beautiful monuments and pyramids. will now be associated with a particular date too... Jan 25th seems to be a huge date for the recent surge in a number of uprisings currently taking place across Africa and more western middle east countries. But more importantly, this date is credited by Egyptians, due to their impressive tweeting ability. Their uprising and outing of president Hosni Mubarak, was sparked firstly by a revolution in Tunisia.

The Tunisians gathered together to rid of a corrupt government. This started by a regular citizen, Mohamed Bouazizi, a man, struggling to make a living, was harrassed one day by police about his fruit and vegetable stall he owned. From the public embarrassment he endured, he committed a self Immolation act, out of desperation, outside a government building. This led to a mass protest over the already corrupt regime that controlled Tunisia, with unemployment and poverty fueling the fire of the protest, and also the lack of human rights.

This one self immolation act started demonstrations in Egypt, with the hopes of the people being able to out corrupt president Hosni Mubarak. It came after reports of rigged elections, a rise in prices nationwide, unemployment of the youth coming out of education and personal enrichment of Mubarak himself among the politically elite while the citizens perished. But the main catalyst for the rebellion was the successful campaign of the Tunisians successfully overthrowing their autocratic ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, which gave Egyptians courage to try the same to overcome their repression.

The Egyptians fought this war, not with violence, but with social media. Twitter and Facebook were utilized by the people to fight against their leaders in a bid to regain their human dignity. Everyday, meeting points, discussions, and vital information was passed through these social media sites, to gain the upper hand, and keep their numbers up, and most importantly, let other nations and the world know their plight, what they stand for, and that they are not going to be repressed by a corrupt leader in power.

Mubarak was listening to the people, he compromised and vowed to step down at the next elections which were due in September. But the people wanted his reign over with now, when demonstrations were taking place. After seeing the trouble caused by protesting citizens, a new government was formed and sworn in. During the forming and protesting, three days in, the internet was abolished, switched off in the country, due to its incredible power of community and togetherness. This was a huge blow to protesters in Egypt. Without a way to communicate and share information they were at a loss, and looking bleak. But from nowhere, anonymous people, who heard their plight, form all over the world, due to their social networking, came to their rescue and offered them vacant router addresses so they were able to connect to the internet once more. This in my opinion, after researching and reading, was the pinnacle turning point in a dying protest. It just goes to show the power of the internet and social media, all over the world.

After 18 days of protest in Egypt, President Mubarak resigned. This whole event in history will be remembered as a fight won with social media, and the internet. It shows how powerful the web and social networking can be. Its impossible to control, or shut down for that matter, the sheer size and speed that social networks command is enormous, and out of the reach and control of any government. It is impossible, and the fact that it was made at a last ditch effort to stop the revolution shows its massive impact in civilization, I mean, what would regular citizens, consumer and entrepreneurs do without access to the internet in their own country, they were only shooting themselves in the foot. This whole episode showed the world that, social media is huge, and its here to stay.

Moral panics surrounding Social Networking

Social Networking is a phenomenal breakthrough for the internet and social interaction, with the possibility to make new friends and come closer to friends you already have. It is truly a phenomenon of our time.

But with the ability to meet and greet all over the world and make friends isn't as clean cut or as innocent as people may seem. Over the years, many different events and scandal has taken place due to social networking. One such event that was made famous worldwide and even made it into prime time news, it was the time a teenager in Australia, posted on facebook that he was throwing a party in his house while his parents were away. It was just supposed to be a small get together he said. But rather turned into a couple of thousand of rowdy party goers attending and destroying their property which left the family with thousands of dollars worth of damage. Which is safe to say, would cause panic for any parent leaving the house with there sons or daughters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm61svN4U5g

Another Panic surrounding Social Networking is the mix of Peadophiles and minors using the these sites and younger members being fooled into thinking they are talking to another person their age when it may be a sex offender. This has been the fear since the social network fad took off. With parents wondering just who their kids are talking to, what they are doing online, because the online world is a harsh and uncut, no holds barred, world, where anything takes place. Children are subject to crude, and disturbing images at a young age, and are subject to talking to complete strangers. It is a fear of all parents, especially with young children on the internet. There are nasty people in the world, and with the innocence of a child, they are much more likely to be pursued by sexual predaters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69RhWRCbstQ&feature=player_embedded

There are many ways in which a panic can ensue over online activity, whether it be meeting up to murder, cyber-bullying, or Sexual Predaters. No one is safe on the internet, the only thing you can do is shield yourself... Shield yourself with knowledge. The knowledge that this happens and to also be aware of what you are doing online.

Catfish

Catfish is a 2010 American documentary involving a man being filmed by his brother and friend as he builds a romantic relationship with a girl on the social networking website Facebook. - WikiPedia.

Before watching the movie, i had heard nothing about the plot, or narrative. So it was fresh, but something that was also expected at the same time (As I'm writing and you read this, I assume you seen the Documentary). As the movie was unfolding piece by piece, I began to think, that this could be happening to many people worldwide, there is nothing to stop people from leading imaginary lives, portraying anybody they want, even impersonating someone they may not even know. Why someone would do this, is beyond me, perhaps for companionship, or for the thrill of being a person they cant be in reality.

In my view, the security of being online and not face to face, by yourself and in your own space allows someone to impersonate a "fake" person, and without punishment, or embarrassment or being caught, because confidence is an issue with these people who go to the effort of impersonating multiple people online on a social network, like the woman 'Angella' in Catfish. She took on the a completely different persona, one of a beautiful model, who is extremely talented, makes her own music and is an all-round artist. To Angella, this was the perfect person, she took peoples pictures from Facebook and constructed a new person, but also took others work, music, and passed it as her own.

Some people would be gullible and believe everything they seen, read or hear. But to me, its not gullibility, its peoples innocence that fools them. people who arent as tuned into the online world, or who get out and around, talk to people in general are liable to believe, this is this persons life, there world, and there work. what you see is what you get, these people believe. but just like Yaniv, in the movie, his cunning and street smarts were able to pick out the cracks in the story and dissect it piece by piece, which led to him unveiling Angella's intricate (and maybe pointless) hobby. But its left unknown to us if Angella planned to cause harm to Yaniv or if it was simply a hobby to Angella.

But, Overall, the film is a wake-up call to peoples innocence, like they say, dont believe everything you read, and leaves you wanting to question that stranger you accepted friendship with on Facebook. Anyone can be Anyone.

Verdict of the movie - 9/10