Lessons from 2011: The New Media Revolution is a Strategic Asset

The year 2011 was largely seen as the year of the social media revolution. It is perceived to be empowering popular uprisings, from catalysing the Arab Spring to spurring protests challenging Putin's writ in Russia or even movements highlighting global economic grievances such as Occupy Wall Street which went viral. However, to believe that social media alone brought in the change would be simplistic. What was new, was actually the idea of a new media revolution: the convergence of various forms of media-television, social, and online networks which, when combined together, became a powerful weapon in the hands of the common man. What began with the Jasmine Revolution was not a fad, but a phenomenon that has democratised the control and monopoly over information.

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