How networks changed the world

Once in a while, we see a vivid example of how networks can affect the course of human history and the lives of many people. The BBC showed a dramatic two-part documentary, How Facebook Changed the World: The Arab Spring. The Arab Spring refers to a wave of revolutionary protests and historic political upheavals that swept through the Arab world starting on December 18, 2010 in Tunisia. The BBC documentary examined the role of social networks like Facebook in enabling the Arab Spring. Certainly, the inventors of social networks must have been thinking more about people sharing vacation photos than the overthrow of Middle Eastern dictators. But that should not diminish how much personal empowerment is offered by social media. Images and videos can be extremely powerful messages. A photo of a man burning himself, shared across the world, can be a powerful force for social disruption. The power of social networks is being multiplied by the proliferation of mobile phones, which have become ubiquitous.