Mideast Unrest Spreads to Nicaragua — Virtually. Under the banner "We Will Not Remain Quiet: No More Reelection," some 16,000 young Nicaraguans joined forces on Friday to protest the re-election bid by President Daniel Ortega. Inspired by the recent uprising in Egypt, the protest against the Sandinista leader's candidacy — expected to be announced officially on Saturday despite a constitutional ban on consecutive terms — was the largest demonstration against his rule in more than a year.
But if you weren't logged on to Facebook, you probably missed it. That's because the protest was Nicaragua's first virtual march. Throughout the day, activists joined the cyber-revolt ("Marcha Virtual en Nicaragua!!!! ") by swapping their Facebook-profile photos for a common protest image and turning their status updates into a picket line: "Our Heroes and Martyrs Didn't Fight and Die to Replace One Dictatorship with Another! Yet it may be premature to expect the cyber-conspirators to take to the streets. In some ways they're right. Nicaragua and social media.
Tim Rogers at Time has an article on virtual protests in Nicaragua against Daniel Ortega's re-election, which gets to the heart of recent debate about social media and political activism (see, for example, the controversy over Malcolm Gladwell's dismissal of any connection). Some 16,000 Nicaraguans protested on Facebook. The protests in the Middle East have famously used social media for coordination, so the parallel is obvious. The big difference, at least for now, is that social media must translate into real world action. Here is a problematic part of the story: Indeed, the fear of reprisal in Nicaragua might have even affected turnout to the cyber protest.
Afraid? But let's see whether protests can jump entire regions with totally different political, economic, and cultural contexts. Facebook lanza una guía para periodistas. Facebook ha lanzado este miércoles la página ‘Journalists on Facebook’, una página que pretende fomentar el uso de la red social entre periodistas para encontrar fuentes, conversar con los lectores y dar información, según han publicado en la propia página. Facebook hará recomendaciones y destacará las prácticas que cree positivas para los reporteros. El comunicado de Facebook destaca el uso que le dan algunos medios y periodistas a la red social.
NPR, la radio pública estadounidense, lo usa para buscar fuentes; Nicholas Kristof, periodista del New York Times, lo usó para informar minuto a minuto desde El Cairo; mientras que Ian Sahpira, del Washington Post, utilizó Facebook como una herramienta más en uno de sus reportajes. Facebook Reggaeton Que es el facebook y para que sirve.