Martin Luther King, Jr. would have loved Twitter.

He would have used it as another powerful means to inspire, mobilize and inform those in his movement on a level not possible during his time. In an age before text messaging, emails, blogs and Facebook, spreading a grassroots message often came in the form of phone calls, door-to-door visits, pulpits, and (if you were lucky) mentions on radio, t.v. or in the local paper. 

Some say that the Civil Rights Movement might not have progressed the way it did if it weren’t for images of protest and violence being broadcast via television. But if the internet and social media had existed in the mid-20th century, it could have taken the movement to the next level by increasing awareness, providing a forum for discussion and debate, coordinating and organizing events, and sharing people’s personal thoughts and experiences with the world. Social media could have injected the Civil Rights Movement with a high-level, virtual octane.

There’s a debate going on about the role Twitter has played in the Tunisian uprising. Some are even going as far as calling it the first “Twitter Revolution.” Others argue that Twitter didn’t cause a revolution, the Tunisian people did. However, there’s no doubt that Twitter has played a role in helping spread news and images about the goings-on in the African country. Twitter can put power in the hands of people who might be restricted by regimes that try to prevent them from having any.

And perhaps that’s the difference. Before social media, we had to rely on the professionals to disseminate news: print and broadcast journalists, photojournalists, wire services, writers. But in the internet age, anyone can disseminate news quickly and easily and without a lengthy resume: just take a pic with your phone, upload a photo, add a caption, and you just might have the next ‘tweet seen around the world.’ Or the tweet that might convince the world that your world desperately needs help or change.

Since I joined Twitter & Facebook for personal use in 2009, I have felt that those who use social media are an informed, socially conscious, aware, philanthropic group. Tweet an important cause-a bit of vital breaking news, a plea for help for a good cause, a newsworthy story-and watch it get retweeted more than your average post. Even Twitter itself has said that it sees itself not as a social network but more of a news and information network. We saw so many tweets from ‘regular people’ in Iran, in the southern U.S. during the Gulf Oil spill, in Haiti. We saw many photos that we might not have seen had ‘regular, non-news people’ not had the courage or ability to send them. 

Though some have criticized Twitter and Facebook as being ‘flashes in the pan’ that might not exist in a decade, if not those two, then something will take their place. We are all connected now, and now that we have it, that desire for connectivity won’t just disappear. People use social media to feel that they are a part of something larger than themselves: a group of friends, a shared interest or opinion, a cause, a movement, a moment in time. It’s up to those who use Twitter to advance their causes to figure out how to get our attention and get us to act.

Tags: Social Change, social media, Tunisia, Twitter Revolution