Social media and protest

Shirky discusses in Chapter 7 of his book "Here Comes Everybody" how social media is being used to facilitate political protest. On Wednesday, July 13, anti-government Belarusians staged their latest in a series of political protests. A group of people gathered just before 8 p.m. in Yakub Kolas Square in the capital of Belarus, Minsk. Their instructions on a web site that organized the protest said do nothing while waiting, nevertheless plaincothes police filmed the crowd. At 8 p.m. the protestors phones began to beep, buzz and play music. Some protestors were hauled off to jail to face charges on who knows what. The New York Times news story said social media directed protests are a growing trend in the Russian bloc countries.