Rosen on “Twitter Can’t Topple Dictactors” Meme

One worthy blog posting for stimulating discussion on this topic is Jay Rosen’s post on “The ‘Twitter Can’t Topple Dictators’ Article.” Rosen cites numerous examples of well-known journalists trying to debunk the supposedly common notion that social media in themselves undermine authoritarian regimes.  From Rosen’s view, these articles are all fighting straw figure ghosts – no one serious really makes these claims.  I’m not so sure he’s right about this, even if the claim is not made that explicitly, attributing a democratic telos to social media has a long history.  Nonetheless, Rosen’s post is a good read with lots of examples.  Omri Ceren‘s blog has a thought-provoking rejoinder to Rosen, suggesting that it’s Rosen himself who is reducing nuanced arguments made by the authors he cites.  Ceren also provides many examples of the “twitter is revolutionary” article.

Print PDF