The springboard for this post is the uproar in Jamaica about inaccurate billing by the local power company. The protest began in earnest online, but observations were made that it did not successfully translate into similar levels of protest in real-life.<\/em><\/p>\n
The Jamaican diaspora (similar to other Caribbean countries) is considerable and its impact on matters occurring in Jamaica should not be underestimated. To varying degrees, Jamaicans overseas are keen to participate in matters back home, especially when injustices have been alleged. Consequently, a sizeable number of the online participants might actually have been its expatriate population, which would distort reports of the actual number of residents that were clamouring for action.<\/p>\n
An instructive example of the impact of such external forces\u00a0 is the protests following the 2009 presidential elections in Iran, which is sometimes referred to as the \u201cTwitter Revolution\u201d, since it was reported that protestors relied primarily on Twitter to communicate with each other.\u00a0 However, in\u00a0The Twitter Devolution<\/a>, Golnaz Esfandiari makes a powerful case that Twitter (and other social networking sites) did not contribute to the demonstrations within Iran, since among other things,<\/p>\n
… But it is time to get Twitter’s role in the events in Iran right. Simply put: There was no Twitter Revolution inside Iran. As Mehdi Yahyanejad, the manager of “Balatarin,” one of the Internet’s most popular Farsi-language websites,\u00a0told the Washington Post\u00a0<\/a>last June, Twitter’s impact inside Iran is nil. “Here [in the United States], there is lots of buzz,” he said. “But once you look, you see most of it are Americans tweeting among themselves…<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Awareness versus commitment<\/h3>\n
Social networking sites have shown themselves to be invaluable for increasing the awareness of issues. They are inherently designed to share information, and many account holders are eager to increase the size of their network or following, and hence their target audience. Furthermore, it requires little effort to indicate support. For example, on Facebook, you can like, comment on or share a post, website or Facebook page of interest, and on Twitter, you can tweet or retweet as desired.\u00a0However, those actions require relatively little commitment or inconvenience. They help to increase the circulation and awareness of particular issues, but in actual fact, do not guarantee increased or more tangible participation. In a recent article in\u00a0The New Yorker<\/a>, Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink<\/a>, The Tipping Point<\/a>, and Outliers<\/a>, noted the following:<\/p>\n
Concluding remarks<\/h3>\n
It is perhaps important to highlight that the impact of social media and networking sites on society is still evolving. \u00a0Although they have been gaining prominence over the last 3 to 5 years, we might still be in the novelty stage. We might still be at a point where we are enamoured by the amount of information available, but are not quite sure how best to use it, and what the associated obligations might be.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Over the past several months, there has been a growing outcry in Jamaica about the drastic increase in electricity bills issued by the incumbent power company, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo). Over the last week or so, the uproar reached a point where campaigns on social networking sites, especially Facebook, as well as via email, were launched asking the public to wear black T-shirts and\/or completely switch off the electric supply at their premises on Friday 19 August.<\/p>\n