Comments on: Moldova: Twitter “Revolution” or Twitter Hype?

By: e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics » Twitter Op-Ed Published on the McClatchy Wire

Wed, 20 May 2009 15:56:40 +0000

[...] Moldova: Twitter “Revolution” or Twitter Hype? [...]

By: e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics » On the Internet, No One Knows Your Revolution is a Dog

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:49:30 +0000

[...] the “Twitter Revolution” in Moldova? Even as it was unfolding, the Twitter angle was being downgraded in the face of evidence that the Moldvovan protesters seemed to be using just about EVERY online [...]

By: Nisha

Nisha — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:39:40 +0000

It may not be a “twitter revolution” but their usage of all different types of social media in Moldova is noteworthy and worth talking about. It wasn’t limited to Twitter but they used so many other platforms — blogs, Livejournal, Friendster — of which Twitter was just one. It’s still fascinating to see how they used all these platforms together in order to organize their actions.

By: links for 2009-04-09 - Kevin Bondelli’s Youth Vote Blog

links for 2009-04-09 - Kevin Bondelli’s Youth Vote Blog — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:30:16 +0000

[...] e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics » Moldova: Twitter “Revolution” or Twitter Hype… [...]

By: e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics » Reminder: Online Advertising Discussion Tomorrow

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:50:21 +0000

[...] of all the Twitter talk? A little online advertising should provide just the antidote — no collaborative culture [...]

By: cpd

cpd — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:00:33 +0000

Definitely check out Ivan’s piece referenced in the first comment. And Karen, isn’t it amazing how often these things come back to rhetoric 101?

By: Karen O

Karen O — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:47:50 +0000

What? You want people to understand that “X and Y” does not equate with “X implies Y”? That’s crazy talk

By: Ivan Boothe

Ivan Boothe — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:38:59 +0000

Exactly. And I think that it still shows a mistaking of the tool for the strategy. The point of the Moldovan protests is to confront a dictatorial regime — not to get top coverage in online media. (That may be *an* objective, but it’s certainly not the primary one.)

I think it’s a continuation of the belief that poorly-formed metrics — number of press mentions, number of blog comments, number of Twitter retweets — is somehow indicative of how much social change you’re creating. It isn’t. The strategy for your campaign or movement comes first, and tools like Twitter (or blogs, or mass media) are used — strategically — to get you closer to your goal.

One of the organizers even says as much in a comment on Morozov’s piece: “In fact Twitter did not play that big role. … [Organizers] agreed on the time and place of the action through the network of Moldovan blogs (blogs aggregator blogosfera.md), and social networks like Facebook/Odnoklassniki, etc.”

The strategy was in the organizing, not in the publicity.

More discussion here: The fire and the food: Why there’s no such thing as a Twitter revolution