A Revolution in Politics? Social Media in China, Egypt, and the US

Takeaways from the Harvard Kennedy School IDEASpHERE panel “A Revolution in Politics? Social Media in China, Egypt, and the U.S.,” with Archon Fung, Tarek Masoud, and Tony Saich

Sampling of Notable Thoughts

Social networks matter, but they have to be real, not virtual.- Tarek Masoud

Technology can be more like a power drill in that is requires a good architect, designer, engineer, etc. to realize and implement its full range of potential applications. – Archon Fung

Summary

How and to what degree digital technologies are transforming politics was the unifying theme of a discussion among Tony Saich, director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Tarek Masoud, associate professor of public policy, and Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of  Democracy and Citizenship, at their Harvard Kennedy School IDEASpHERE session, “A Revolution in Politics? Social Media in China, Egypt, and the U.S.”

Citing examples such as the outbreak of the deadly SARS disease and a bridge that had collapsed due to infrastructure issues, Saich demonstrated how Chinese citizens are utilizing digital technology to broadcast events the government attempted to conceal.  Though the Chinese regime is adjusting better than expected to the influence of new media, Saich said it is still trying to move the horizontal flow of information toward a vertical dissemination.

Tarek Masoud, who has been working with collaborators to test whether the Arab Spring was catalyzed by social media, said they are trying to determine, for example, whether increased Twitter activity in certain areas can be used to predict protests or identify them after they've happened. So far, he said, there is little evidence to support the idea that social media propels protests. In most cases, Masoud said, it is the most organized forces that generally triumph; in countries like Egypt, that means those who can deploy "real" social networks rather than "virtual" ones.

Archon Fung discussed how technology intersects with real world politics. His “Six Models for the Politics and Internet” include: the empowered public sphere; displacement of traditional organizations by new digitally self-organized groups; digitally direct democracy; truth-based advocacy; constituent mobilization; and crowd-sourced social monitoring.