The Voices Can Never Be Drowned

a transliteration of Facebook which defines as "doomed to die"

I was checking up on my Twitter feed and I was amazed at the rate my friends tweet. As you scroll down your list, you will be updated on a mix of on-goings, ranging from breakfast-cereal flavours, interesting sights on the way to school, daily musings to good music and video links. Basically harmless day-to-day happenings. Twitter is created for social networking and micro-blogging, as an easier mean as compared to sending emails and instant messages, which is being made available to those who follow up on your feed, hence less hassle for both parties.

Compared to other forms of interactive models of communication such as SMS (short message service), email, MSN or other instant messaging services and a phone call, Twitter is taking the lead in popularity. Not surprising at all. It is an outlet that costs almost nothing and your message or shout-out can be made available to everyone simultaneously.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070701162.html

However, Twitter seems to be posing as a potential lethal threat as a surge on bans are being placed on recently. Likewise for Facebook. The US Marines has banned Twitter for fear of unintended leak of unnecessary information that could be proved worthy to adversaries and being exposed to viruses or Trojan circulating. Other countries such as, Iran, Syria and China have also banned such social networks for political reasons. As quoted from CNN, “" The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering. They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users," a Stratcom source told Wired.com”

China has prohibited the use of Twitter a few days before the 20 ^th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre to prevent stirring up of emotions within the netizens and subsequently Facebook was being banned after it was used as a channel to incite strong protests within the Uyghurs around the world as a Facebook group “ Worldwide Protest in Honour and Support of Uighurs Dying for Freedom.”

The potential of Twitter is being undermined initially. It might have seem to pose off a tool of social networking initially and many passed it off as a fad or some fleeting trend. But it is evident that Twitter is here to stay. It has mophed into a media and marketing medium disguised as a social network service (SNS) and is probably a stepping stone for more to come.

Despite China’s constitution claims on freedom of speech, the government engages a "subversion of state power" clause to penalize those who criticize them. But do such bans really prove to be effective in silencing the citizens’ voices? In 2007, a service similar to Twitter called Taotao was being introduced. Chinese users pledge allegiance to their own online mediums and if censorship is implemented whenever sensitive national events were to happen, it would simply spell the means of more SNSes to come. Besides, there are also other outlets which can be used to express disagreement and disgruntlement. I personally feel that prohibiting such SNS can only supress that much. (Which isn't much at all).

So, what say you?

Netizen: A person who is a frequent or habitual user of the Internet