I read this interesting post yesterday about the use of Social Media by activists. I have talked  about Social Media as a tool for organising protests (remember the “Free Burma” campaign?) before, and this is kinda related.

Activists in countries where free access to the internet is limited use alternative means to get their messages out. Skype, for example, is a popular channel: apparently the Communist Party in China finds it too useful to block, so it gives activists the opportunity to get podcasts out in Skype’s new chatrooms. Other Web 2.0 platforms that are prevalent in Western states are blocked though…

The article furthermore discusses the suspicion that the web, like traditional media, might develop to be “free” in Western societies (I challenge the idea that media are free over here, but I guess compared to China they are), and censored in totalitarian regimes. I have a lot of confidence in Social Media though: these tools are proving so useful, that said dictatorships actually need to use them themselves. And even if certain tools are censored, the savviness of people and technology shouldn’t be underestimated. I sincerely hope that people will keep finding ways to make use of these tools and keep getting their messages out, to make us all facilitate the changes needed.

Read the original article here, let me know what you think.