Weibo worries Chinese Government’s secu
6 september 2011 Plaats een reactie
Just read that Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, is causing sleepless nights for the Government. Social media in an autoritharian regime is not all that great to keep your population at bay. So, some cyberutopians start mesmerizing about a twitter uprising already.
Uhuh, nope, Dream on! Cyberutopian alert! Lets not forget that people using Weibo are not all trying to overthrow the government and you can trust the good ‘ol Chinese Party to keep a keen eye on anything suspicious happening on those platforms. I dont believe that it will cause big trouble in Little China.
It does show that social media challenges the existing ways to control the flows of information. But a challenge is not by far the forerunner of a revolution.
But Maarten, for Gods sake, why so careful? Its a great new development, the first rays of light peeking through the slowly opening doors to democracy and freedom for all Chinese, i can hear some of my friends say.
I would say to that: Dont get me wrong, i am a strong believer in social media and the powers it harnasses to mobilise (not organise!) large groups of people.
But heres my point: just because Twitter has proven some kind of mobilising ability elsewhere in the world will not make its bastardchild Weibo work in some Chinese province we never heard of.
Benghazi is not Shanghai, The Tahir square not Tienaminsquare. If Weibo or Twitter gain in momentum it wil be because of the people using it, not because of the medium itself. People will have to be willing to organise protests. Weibo can help mobilising people for these protests. But without some people organising in real life, nothing will happen. I am convinced of that.
The organising party will not be succesful or unsuccesfull BECAUSE OF social media. Its just a tool. A great tool, but just a tool.
To keep the debate going, here’s a link to a piece by Aaron Brady: very interesting, it helped me focussing your view on the China – social media debate as well. so, just to have an excuse to link to his piece, here it is.