Since the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, different forms of media have played a critical role in the spread of revolutionary thought and in bringing about political, economic and social change.

During the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks’ first steps were to seize the telephone exchange, the railway stations and the main bridges going in and out of Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire. This allowed them to control the message about the revolution and to prevent counter-revolutionary propaganda. They then used the wireless room of a loyal warship to broadcast messages appealing to the Russian people to support the revolution.

More related to this story

• What direction our own democracy?
• The easy part of the revolution
• Lessons from a revolution (Iran’s, that is)

Video

Mubarak will not stand for re-election

Video

Obama: Transition in Egypt can’t wait

Video

Egypt unrest rattles commodities

During the 1979 Iranian revolution, a popular uprising similar to the ones we are witnessing today in Tunisia and Egypt, revolutionary ideas were spread through “small media” such as audio cassettes and printed leaflets that carried the messages of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomaini.

Authoritarian states, to preserve their control and to stifle opposition, have gone to great lengths to control the mass media, with a great deal of success in recent decades. But the emergence of social media – Web 2.0 – has presented a major challenge to the state’s ability to control the message and contain popular dissent.

The Tunisian and Egyptian governments’ censorship and media controls, not to mention their repressive restrictions on free speech and political association, could do little to prevent enterprising youths from organizing the initial demonstrations that would unleash upheaval in both countries. Short of shutting off the Internet and mobile phone communications, these states have been unable to contain the viral anti-regime activities of their wired citizens.

Facebook and Twitter certainly aren’t solely responsible for the growing wave of revolutionary ferment in the Arab world; pent-up frustrations had been bubbling for some time. But they helped to channel that frustration into action. The first major demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt were organized via Facebook and Twitter, with activist leaders directing followers where to congregate and how to avoid blockades. Those gatherings then snowballed, drawing in citizens from all walks of life.

So what does this mean for Western democracy promotion efforts? Western states need not lecture repressed populations about the value of freedom or guide them in the building of democratic movements. Events in Egypt, Tunisia and even the 2009 post-election protests in Iran have shown that the focus of Western efforts needs to be on strengthening the Web 2.0 platforms that can facilitate the networking of activists, the sharing of ideas and the organization of movements.

Although many authoritarian regimes have been caught flat-footed by the emergence of social media and their political applications, others have been ahead of the game. China, for instance, has developed sophisticated cyber-control strategies that have included strikes against organizations such as Google that challenge that control.

Those seeking to defy such efforts by states like China must focus their efforts on keeping the Web 2.0 political space open, whether through technological innovation or by leveraging economic and political power to persuade regimes, corporations and private organizations to cease interference in free virtual expression.

There are more than 500 million Facebook and 200 million Twitter members in the world today, and the number is growing, particularly in the developing world. In fact, social networking is the Web communication medium of choice in the developing world, with those who are wired typically spending more time on social networking sites than e-mail. Chinese bloggers, for instance, are the most prolific in the world, despite increasingly stringent government controls.

There were revolutions, of course, before Facebook and Twitter, and most of the world’s population, particularly its poor and disenfranchised (those most in need of revolutionary change), still lack access to the Web. Nevertheless, the situations in Tunisia and Egypt have clearly shown the revolutionary potential of Web 2.0.

If Western states are serious about democracy promotion, they must work to harness this potential. This will require continued investment for innovation in social media technologies and the political will to keep them open and free at all costs. It will also require more openness among Western states themselves – which, in the era of WikiLeaks, may encounter some resistance. Like the printing press, radio and television, social media are evolving into a powerful tool to mobilize people and to promote positive political change. Let’s not miss the opportunity to use it.

Mark Sedra, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, teaches at the University of Waterloo.

Even the most technically proficient employees will likely be passed over for that promotion if they can’t work well in small groups or lead a meeting of fellow staff. Those who do manage to get ahead likely possess emotional intelligence, a measure of how well a person can regulate his or her own emotions, as well as the emotions of other people.

Emotional intelligence has remained a sticky subject in the years since it served as the title of Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book. In this article, we’ll take a look at the role emotional intelligence might play in predicting the likelihood of falling victim to depression, dementia and other brain disorders.

Full article at HowStuffWorks.com.

Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com.

Photo credit: Fotolia

Does the thought of being cut off from social media cause you to break out in a cold sweat? When the fire alarm goes off, do you grab your phone before the cat? Chances are it’s time for an intervention, but Pam Moore is here to let you know the signs.

1. You more often than not talk in 140 character increments.

2. You forgot how to spell simple 3 letter words like “you” which you now reference as “U”.

3. You go to the mall for an hour and come home with 10 new blog ideas.

4. The grocery store clerk, mailman, dry cleaner, and Panera Bread head cook all know your twitter handle.

5. You have a favorite seat at Starbucks and Panera bread.

6. You have stayed past closing at least two times at either Panera Bread or Starbucks.

7. You can’t remember the last time you went to the restroom without your Android or iPhone.

8. You regularly sit down in front of your desk first thing in the morning while still wearing your jammies, to “send a few tweets” and then hit the gym. Unfortunately you’re usually still there at lunch time.

9. You are the mayor of Panera Bread, Starbucks, the grocery story, drycleaner and your favorite burger joint.

10. You refuse to do drive by FourSquare as you want to earn your badges the old school way!

11. Your kids know the difference between a twit and a tweet.

12. Your kids could easily describe a retweet, mention, hootsuite, and ping.fm to their friends who have parents who don’t tweet.

13. Your spouse has threatened to divorce you if you don’t leave your cell phone at home at least one date night a month.

14. You have real friends in Australia, the UK, Brazil and at least three other countries. You met them all on Twitter.

15. You know many of your Twitter pals better than you do some neighbors.

Full list at The Marketing Nut.

A love affair with social media.

Things have progressed a lot since 1991. We no longer have to worry about this, nor put up with this, or dress like this. In keeping with sensible improvements in politics and popular culture, the internet has also developed somewhat. Back in the early 90s the behemoth of technology we all now appreciate as the internet was merely a newborn monster, wet behind the ears and tiny. The only web browser available at that time was something called (imaginatively), the WorldWideWeb; now, there are scores of niche and custom browsers. Whilst an in-depth knowledge of the differences between a Midori and a SeaMonkey might be a little over the top, browsers nonetheless constitute an important way of managing both your time and your career capabilities through the medium of the internet. Here, I take a whirlwind tour of some of the freely available ones you should really know about.

Google Chrome

The Good: It’s ruddy fast, very secure and ‘sandboxing’ means if one tab crashes then you don’t have to restart the whole thing (take note Internet Explorer). Nice tool for creating web shortcuts on your desktop/start menu which means you can edit blogs without irritating toolbars in the way.

The Bad: Problems with handling RSS feeds have not been fully solved by the RSS Subscription Extension – it’s still clumsy and unreliable.

In Short: A genuine rival to the Explorer/Firefox monopoly, but still suffering from teething problems.

Internet Explorer

The Good: Several snazzy features make this a particularly useful tool for students. ‘Web Slices’ allow you to save specific sections of a Web page – i.e. job adverts on freelancestudents.co.uk – for quick viewing. ‘Accelerators’ can be used to make blogging and job-hunting easier.

The Bad: Still prone to rage-inducing crashes, and can struggle woefully for speed on older computers.

In Short: The ‘Daddy’ has worked hard to re-assert itself, and has much going for it for students.

Firefox

The Good: Quick as ever, less prone to crashes than its main competitors, a well-documented ability to handle RSS feeds and similar web developments, and numerous add-ons allow for customization of your browser. Automatic session restore means half-written emails/blogs can be recovered.

The Bad: Despite add-ons for blogging, an integrated, focussed feature could make Firefox indispensible. ‘Live Bookmarks’ is not immediately intuitive.

Opera

The Good:  Latest update to new JavaScript engine has probably made it the fastest browser available. The ‘Opera Link’ function is a brilliant way to integrate your bookmarks and useful information across your PC, Laptop, and mobile.

The Bad: The amount of customizable features can make it daunting for less web-savvy users.

In Short: Probably the techno-geek’s browser par excellence – also probably why it struggles for popularity.

Safari

The Good: Functions such as ‘Top Sites’ and ‘Cover Flow’ are the most engaging method available across the various browsers for bookmarking/viewing useful sites (i.e. job sites/blogs), and seeing where you found that great job the night before and forgot to bookmark.

The Bad: Still better and more customizable on the Mac. Lacks some security features.

In Short: Continuing to move away from style over substance, but still not the ideal browser for jumpstarting your career.

Honourable Mentions

As previously noted, browsers are ten-a-penny these days, and the above are only the main contenders to the browsing throne. The following are a few others that warrant a mention:

Flock: With a built in blog editor; flickr, twitter and facebook integration; easy to manage RSS service; and split tabbed favourites/RSS homepage – this could be the future of browsing, certainly for students. For now it’s still a bit riddled with bugs, but worth a look nonetheless.

Maxthon: Get past the security issues and lack of basic features such as thumbnail previews, and this one offers super-fast browsing, even with many tabs running, and the highly useful ability to save a web-browsing session and recover tabs shut by mistake – a God-send for the trigger-happy job hunter.

Netscape Navigator: The forgotten man of web-browsing, Netscape Navigator hasn’t updated since early 2008. You can still download the most recent version, which largely focuses on simplicity – however, the Netscape/AOL social networking integration remains an irrelevance for UK users, and the rest of the package is outmoded and largely obsolete.

In Part 2, I’ll look in more detail at the Web Browsers I think are best suited to the needs of students and graduates.