Twitter Me to Safety

Over a coffee this morning while reviewing a PowerPoint with an uber smart fellow, Jon Husband, I had a Twitter revelation.

I'm no fan of Twitting (sic?) it seems ... it seems ... unnecessary.

But Jon's presentation referenced a use of Twitter for social activism, namely assuring the safety of activists in dangerous places.

The example was given of Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has been detained many times and who uses Twitter to constantly let people know where he is, as a form of personal protection through publicity - if he stops twittering, his friends know that something is wrong.

With this example and being aware of the actions of the Junta in Burma, mobile Twittering takes on a greater importance.

On-line activism such as petitioning using Avaaz, or creating an on-line digest like Burma Digest, and posting videos like this one to You Tube or Google ...



feel like an established practice for digital activism that help the World become aware and witness social outrage.

Twitter could be a much more powerful tool in the hands of activists who don't have the benefit of an existing broad public profile.

Imagine, now I have a reason to recommend using Twitter.

[note this post also appears at ned]
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Tags for information about: for:vsef, Social Activism, Technology

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