Social Media takes down governments and creates a paradigm shift
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With the events happening in Egypt and what has been happening in other Middle Eastern counties, social media has really changed the world in a big way.
Power has always come from controlling resources. When human society was first forming, land was the resource that society needed. This gave all the power to the Landlords. With their monopoly over the land, the Landlord’s became powerful and wealthy off the backs of common people.
As society moved away from producing all of one’s own goods, to a society with a division of labor, the owners of industry were the next to gain control over the resource of technology. Technology increased the standard of living as people began to specialize in trade. Now families relied on industries to provide essential needs since they didn’t have the time or skill to provide for themselves.
The next great source of power and wealth came from the control of knowledge and communication. With advancements in travel and telecommunications, information was now available but at a cost. Vast resources of data were collected and stored and corporations and institutions controlled the access to this information.
Then came the Internet
Created by the Dept of Defense, it was soon open to the public. The Internet belongs to the people. In previous power paradigms, few controlled the resources. Few owned land, few owned industry, and few owned access to information. The Internet has shifted power and leveled the playing field.
Large music conglomerates suffered because users shared freely with one another. Newspaper institutions suffered because people no longer need to pay for their news. The Internet reinforced and expanded existing personal networks. Communication is now instant and is shared easily.
Governments seemed to be the only remaining entities that welded control and power over the common people. The advent of social media has now shown its ability to take control away from governments and place it at the feet of its society. It has happened in Iran, Tunisia, and now Egypt. Facebook, Flickr , Twitter, and other social networks combined with video smart phones have all found ways escape the limitations governments have used to stop them. Even government secrets aren’t hidden for long because of websites like Wikileaks.
The Internet has broken down barriers and opened up resources to the masses. It has opened competition to smaller businesses and allowed them to exist along side of the juggernauts. Power has shifted from landlords to industries, to corporations, institutions, and governments to individuals, communities, and society as a whole.
What creates these shifts in power from one paradigm to another is a misalignment between the people of a society and the access or limitations of resources and those who control them. In order to survive, corporations and institutions are beginning to change their ways and listen to the people but as long as governments continue to fight this trend, and political values are misaligned with the needs of the people, you can expect to see more instances similar to what has been happening in the Middle East.
