Arianna Huffington
We all know the many ways the Internet has been used in the service of terrorism -- al Qaeda-linked websites, recruitment videos, uploads of Bin Laden's latest video screed and how-to-blow-things-up online manuals.
But a new, countervailing trend is emerging: More and more of the
This was, in fact, one of the topics addressed at a conference I attended recently in
Except, in the
The numbers are impressive: The Arabic version of
There are now more than 17 million
Perhaps even more significant, the number of
This social networking explosion comes in the wake of the dramatic impact that Twitter had on the Iranian uprising in the summer of 2009. That was when the
Not only did Twitter allow those inside
A year before that, we saw how useful Twitter could be in an isolated instance. In
And with that one word, he kicked into motion a chain of events. Friends quickly connected with each other and coordinated the hiring of a lawyer. Less than 24 hours later, another one word tweet was sent out: "Free." (Who says you need 140 characters?)
It's because of the remarkable and unruly power of social media that many governments in the region are dead set on trying to control it. As the Epoch Times reported this summer, attempts at censorship are popping up almost as fast as new users. The Afghan government blocks websites dealing with alcohol, gambling and, yes, social networking.
Of course, the rapid spread of technology is no guarantee of rapid transformation. But it's hard to witness the spread of social media, especially among the young, and not believe that it has the potential to bring new solutions - or at least the opportunity for them -- to a region that desperately needs them.
And though, as we've seen, technology can be used to terrorize and divide, social media, by its nature, tilts toward bringing down barriers and connecting people. Which is what is starting to happen in the
No longer is our best hope for change in the region the far-too-often failed process of our government pressuring their governments. If fundamental change happens, it's going to come from the bottom up -- with social media fueling the transformation.
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(C) 2010 Arianna Huffington