Social media and the Greek uprising

by Teacher Dude | December 29, 2008 at 09:15 am

806 views | 75 Recommendations | 14 comments

One of the most striking features of the recent series of revolts, rebellions and riots in Greece over the last few weeks has been the use of social media to relay events to a wider audience. What has been witnessed is a form of internet hyper - Darwinism in which the forces of change which usually take years have been compressed into a time frame measured in weeks.

Before the recent troubles the use of Twitter, blogs, video sharing services and the like was a pretty limited affair. Many of those on the Left, and much of Greek political life saw the internet as irrelevant as TV, newspapers, public meetings, leafleting and marches were the order of the day. Such a stance reflecting a general distrust of the medium, an extension of the Greek Left's ambivalent relationship with the media in general.

For many TV, radio and newspapers are inherently biased and corrupt and such claims have been fed by examples seen in the mainstream national media of the way protests and unrest have been downplayed or simply ignored. For example the recent hunger strike by prisoners in Greek jails involving nearly half the country's inmates received virtually no local coverage till the story came out in the international press.

The state - run TV networks follow the line set down by the party in power and whilst not Stalinist in their propaganda style (why lie when you can spin?) are no more objective than say, Fox news.

On the other hand many of the private television channels follow other agendas set down by their owners who see the TV and print as the PR wing of their business interests. A way of leveraging their position vis - a - vie the state, which is by far the biggest player in the Greek economy. Push the right buttons and you are rewarded with valuable advertising revenue and preferential treatment in competitions for government contracts.

However, as the protests continued more and more people discovered the power of the net to organise, inform and disseminate their message without having recourse to the mainstream channels. They discovered that they too, could get out their message to a wider audience far beyond their borders. In addition, media outlets from around the world quickly gained access to sources of information which told a very different story from the local media's version of events which depended on more traditional news gathering tools.

With this realisation came a burst of creativity in terms of tactics, slogans, self expression. The hundreds of school occupations quickly started setting up blogs, thousands of those taking part in demonstrations started posting pictures and videos on the net, citizen journalism sites started getting eyewitness accounts of the events as they were happening.

Many thought that this would eventually happen in Greece but that it would take two, three years. Instead it took three weeks.The genie is now out of the bottle and many of those working in the traditional media have been given a nasty wake up call. Although they've read about such movements in America and France, one has suddenly turned up, unbidden on their own door step.

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Paschen

at 09:28 on December 29th, 2008

This is a very good follow up on the events over the past couple of weeks in Greece. I am not surprise that some of the media do have private interest and would report accordingly. There seems to be no end in sight though until reforms will happen and be put into practice as well.

Rachel Nixon

at 09:28 on December 29th, 2008

Teacher Dude - very interesting piece and intriguing that the nature of the story has turned many towards the internet.

Tina Kells

at 09:29 on December 29th, 2008

Art_By_Alida

at 09:40 on December 29th, 2008

The only thing I fear from citizen journalism is that many people post misinformation which could lead to mob mentality, mob rule and even mass hysteria

Photos are one thing. And even photos could be misleading with the available technology.

My biggest fear is misinformation being treated as truth.

With all of the conspiracy theorists on the internet and people blindly believing it without proof or researching information further, only time will tell if citizen journalism is going to be a boon or a bane.

This post is a good read and food for thought.

Paschen

at 09:46 on December 29th, 2008

With the speed of the internet and global communication through that medium the misinformation would also be corrected with in a rather very short time. Look at the story off S. Jobs Heard attack, well with in minutes the whole soap bubble blow up.

In the old media such as the Print any mistake would take at least 24 hours to be corrected if not longer and then only in small print and at the end of the paper well hidden.

Fairbanks

at 09:56 on December 29th, 2008

My biggest fear is misinformation being treated as truth.

. . .

Some take misinformation and run with it when it meets their own agenda goals. Most have learned to sort fact from fancy when it comes to Internet. Nobody is blindly believing anything unless they want to. Count on it, but avoid crowds.

Pythiian1

at 10:03 on December 29th, 2008

Interesting article and viewpoints. Since Greece is fairly new at this, its citizens might consider reviewing and learning from other countries' internet, Twitter experiences, e.g. Mumbai when misinformation spread like wildfire on some occasions.

poor oligarch (not verified)

at 10:13 on December 29th, 2008

Thanks Teacher Dude for all of your coverage.

Its important folks avail themselves of the opportunities the Internet currently offers, but already we see initiatives (eg from UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham) for increasing censorship; and ultimately who controls all of the switches, and can set the filters (Access Control Lists)?

For the moment those of us on the right side of the digital divide can enjoy more-or-less real time info but, as others have already commented upon, one has to be objective and corroborate and weigh whatever info one chooses to access. Simply reading all the comments on the situation in Gaza reveals that different people will choose what they want to believe. So yes, until it's switched off we can make our choices faster, and maybe better.

At the same time, I'm encouraged by the difference even a single mobile phone can make to the quality of life in an African village for example.

Art_By_Alida

at 10:16 on December 29th, 2008

From my observations, even after conspiracy theories have been debunked, they continue to have a life of their own and many many people continue to believe the conspiracy theorists.

Obama's birth certificate conspiracy theory, which originated on the Israel Insider news site, is an example.

People are still filing lawsuits over it even after FactChecker and government agencies verified he was born in Hawaii.

That is a PRIME example.

It just won't die.