"Twittering a Revolution"

Thousands of protestors flocked to the streets of Moldova earlier this week to rally against election results, but what is as interesting as the politics is the communication tool they used to gather the mass crowds: Twitter.

Hello, I’m Christina McAusland and you’re watching Newsy.com.

We’re taking a look at ways the social media website has played a part in recent events.

Here are some headlines:

From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from Czech Republic: “The Revolution Will Be Tweeted -- Moldovan Protesters Exploit Social Networking Sites” (Radio Free Europe)

The New York Times:“Protests in Moldova Explode, With Help of Twitter” (The New York Times)

And Duluth News Tribune from Minnesota:“Our view: Twitter 1, communism 0” (Duluth News)

The young rioters searched a keyword named after a square in the capital city, to bring people to the streets.

CNN’s senior international editor reports their success.

“The organizers had put out messaged on Twitter in Moldova for people to turn up at this protest. And one quote I was looking today said one of the organizers had said we expected a thousand people to turn up. And, be careful for what you twitter, more than 10,000 people turned up at this protest.” (CNN)

Twitter also played a role in the recent G20 Summit in London in early April, giving updates and helping protestors communicate.

The Daily Telegraph has this view from one of the organizers of the protest group, G20 Meltdown.

“Twitter was a key tool in terms of ‘mobilizing people and shifting around,’ because it allows people to file and read updates via their mobile phones.” (The Daily Telepgrah)

CNN reports NOT all Twitter updates agree with the protests.

“Some of the tweets were picking up on scenes like this one, where protestors outnumbered by news photographers outside the Royal Bank of Scotland. That’s really raising question about whether demonstrators were acting up for cameras. Tweets like this, “If the media went home, so would the “protestors” and the police.” (CNN)

An editor from the Guardian’s website explains why Twittering can be crucial:

“I think even with broadcast cameras, on a story like that, you can only see one linear thing at a time. … And actually it wasn’t a linear narrative story. You’ve got stories. Those things never are. … And there’s something fantastic about being able to see all the difference run simultaneously.”  (The Guardian)

So what do you think about Twitter’s role in these protests? Is it a useful tool to help people convey their messages or did it only make the protests more violent?