----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
I am also curious why current technology should eve be called "social" media in contrast to past technology. The clay tablets of Mycenae articulated a social relationship holding together a Palace Economy. They were every bit as much a social medeium as, for example, Twitter. That's what confused me when for the first time I saw the phrase in Doug's post. Social media are as old as cave paintings at the least.
---- In the abstract yes. Here's the thing though. When social space gets closed down -- physically, as in the U.S. (none other than work, school, bars, and church); or politically, as in police states--social media provides a space where people can interact, share, and construct social values and a language that serves their purpose.
The guy who wrote that article did NOT say that social media created the revo. He said it took a decade of all kinds of work to do that; but it did provide a relatively safe, shared space, where alliances could be forged and a shared language found.
Joanna