domingo, junio 21, 2009

Twitter, nuevo objeto de análisis y reflexiones


Twitter es la herramienta de organización política del momento, en especial por lo que está ocurriendo en Irán. Post, artículos (como este de El País), caricaturas (como la que abre este post), incluso comentarios dentro de Twitter así lo confirman. Y en esa dinámica se entiende una nota en el New York Times que habla de las lecciones aprendidas en los últimos días. Aquí retomo algunos de los párrafos que me parecen más interesantes:

1. Twitter Is a Tool and Thus Difficult to Censor (...) Twitter aspires to be something different from social-networking sites like Facebook or MySpace: rather than being a vast self-contained world centered on one Web site, Twitter dreams of being a tool that people can use to communicate with each other from a multitude of locations, like e-mail. (...) Unlike Facebook, which operates solely as a Web site that can be, in a sense, impounded, shutting down Twitter.com does little to stop the offending Twittering.

2. Tweets Are Generally Banal, but Watch Out. "(...) tweets by their nature seem trivial, with little that is original or menacing. Even Twitter accounts seen as promoting the protest movement in Iran are largely a series of links to photographs hosted on other sites or brief updates on strategy. Each update may not be important. Collectively, however, the tweets can create a personality or environment that reflects the emotions of the moment and helps drive opinion."

3. Buyer Beware. "Nothing on Twitter has been verified. While users can learn from experience to trust a certain Twitter account, it is still a matter of trust. And just as Twitter has helped get out first-hand reports from Tehran, it has also spread inaccurate information, perhaps even disinformation".

4. Watch Your Back. "Not only is it hard to be sure that what appears on Twitter is accurate, but some Twitterers may even be trying to trick you".

5. Twitter Is Self-Correcting but a Misleading Gauge. "For all the democratic traits of Twitter, not all users are equal. A popular, trusted user matters more and, as shown above, can expose others who are suspected of being fakers. In that way, Twitter is a community, with leaders and cliques. Of course, Twitter is a certain kind of community — technology-loving, generally affluent and Western-tilting."

6. Twitter Can Be a Potent Tool for Media Criticism. "Just as Twitter can rally protesters against governments, its broadcast ability can rally them quickly and efficiently against news outlets. One such spontaneous protest was given the tag #CNNfail, using Internet slang to call out CNN last weekend for failing to have comprehensive coverage of the Iranian protests. This was quickly converted to an e-mail writing campaign. CNN was forced to defend its coverage in print and online."

Ya seguiremos algunos recopilando algunos materiales sobre el tema.

1 comentario:

Edgar D. Heredia Sánchez dijo...

El gran panóptico.

La red sigue revolucionando y estimulando el análisis social, ya la red no es una gran entelequia, hoy día hay que seccionar, blogs, redes y comunidades sociales, entre otros, en unos se analiza y se propone, en otros se relata y se cubre, la internet irrumpe ¿irreversiblemente? en la cobertura de las dinámicas y disloques sociales, mayor información pero tambien una mayor demanda analítica para seleccionar la fuente y distinguir entre sus pertinencia y el oportunismo que puede representar elevarse como la voz más autorizada para informar.