Last year, in a now-infamous article titled Small Change Malcolm Gladwell used the phrase “weak ties” to describe relationships predicated on and perpetuated within social media networks. He argued that this type of activism “makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact.”

A few months later, I joined in on a still ongoing debate regarding social media’s role in the social and political change going on in the Arab world.

During that time, most of my research and analysis focused on social media’s role in sparking and perpetuating an uprising—how Twitter and Facebook facilitated the uprisings, if at all.

But for the past six weeks, working at a tiny international nonprofit called VE Global, my understanding of social and digital media’s role in social change has deepened. Read more…

Imagine a newspaper that talks–yes, imagine a newspaper that talks to you!
Or imagine a grocery store suggesting what to cook for dinner using only products on sale. Or being part of a radio show without calling in. Or taking part in a presidential campaign by adding an electronic presidential button to your Twitter avatar.  These scenarios are all taking place today in Latin America. How? The short answer: Twitter.

Twitter has become a useful tool in Latin America in areas such as media, retail, and politics. For example, Diario Uno, a newspaper in Mendoza, Argentina, is known as the newspaper that “talks” because it interacts directly with its audience through Twitter.  “Our Twitter followers’ response in seeing that a newspaper reply to them has been enriching and has created a special loyalty to our newspaper,” said Nacho Castro, the person who is in charge of Tweeting for Diario Uno.

Read more…