Modern & Im/material Things

“The coded conversations were used to gauge support for the cause and direct people to social networking site Yahoo Messenger for more detailed conversations. The revolutionaries would then use the messaging service and text messages to organize their activities further, avoiding scrutiny from authorities.Communications would continue through text messages and Yahoo Messenger, to avoid authorities becoming suspicious. Mahmoudi said he attracted 171,323 “admirers” to a number of profiles on the dating site before Libya’s internet crashed Saturday. He had aimed to attract 50,000 as a sufficient number to take to the streets in protest.”

What a smart and subversive use of social media tools to mobilize people. Social media are a means to an end, not the end itself. Sometimes I think social media strategists and analysts forget this simple fact. 

“I think the regime is over even if Gaddafi manages to survive,” Mattawa says. “Libyans are saying, ‘Yes we will have a new constitution, perhaps we will have a new flag. But we do not want you or your father or the rest of your plan, so get out of here.”

This is worth 36 minutes of your time. I’ve met Professor Mattawa a few times at various academic conferences about Arab-American diasporas and Middle Eastern studies. He’s articulate, smart and remarkably approachable.