Until recently, major revolutions in thought and understanding relied on mass-produced publications or reports from broadcast media. Now, everyone with a social media account can scoop the news. Anyone with a video camera in their mobile phone can create a raw record that is then made available to anyone on the internet. Mobile cameras, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (as well as many other technologies and social media outlets) are revealing a reality that couldn’t fit in traditionally published media because of lack of resources or editorial control. In a sense, 1984 happened, but instead of Big Brother watching its citizens, its citizens are watching Big Brother too. New information preceded and possibly precipitated the fall of the Soviet Union. Social change may accelerate as new information proliferates.
“Thank God For Cellphone Video Cameras” – The Atlantic
Pretending Not To Panic 